Andrew Neil blasts SNP: 'Humza the Brief' is 'finished'

the SNP has been in power in Scotland for 17 years, mostly they have little to show for it and what they care about is what gets them out of bed in the morning, which is independence, separation from the rest of the UK. I didn't get anywhere with that, well let's find out what this all means for the future of Scotland with broadcaster Andrew Neil, good morning Andrew, good morning, how bad is this for the S SMP? Oh it couldn't be worse, it's quite existential for the Minister and it's quite disastrous for the SNP, I mean for Mr Yousef it's practically over, he could leave before it's over today, he could leave over the weekend or he could leave sometime next week or sometime in May, we don't know exactly. when but he will leave his time is up it's up Alexander is right he will be known as Hamza the short and um he just proved that he was not up to the job he was never the sharpest pencil in the Box he managed to lose the support around him His fate now depends on a woman who used to be a member of the SNP Republican Party but defected to Alex Samon's party.

A woman he said when he left wouldn't be much of a loss. Well, that's not a big loss. She now she is the woman he could determine. her short-term fate was an impossible job for homes, the USF replaced Nicholas Sturgeon after a long time with her as first minister, but then, given everything that has been happening in the party in the police investigation, then, what was impossible? job or did a bad job worse, well it was an impossible job because he's not up to it so I think at any time he would have failed and found it difficult but it was and I think the implication of your question is correct, it was particularly difficult for him given that he wasn't up to par, um in the way he inherited it, you know, the SNP has been in power longer than the Conservatives in Westminster, now we know how the Conservatives are doing. in Westminster.

They are sailing for a Bruen, the SMP power in Scotland for 17 years, they have little to show for anything and what they care about is what gets them out of bed in the morning, which is the separation of independence from the rest of the Kingdom United. I haven't gotten anywhere with that, that's not going anywhere, huh, it was starting to fray at the edges. Nicholas Sturgeon's Greens had been allowed to defeat the SNP by very unpopular routes, from gender recognition to a terrible bottleneck plan to turn everything it touched into dust and, adding up, That, not a good time, plus of course the fact that MC Plaud of Scotland Yard in Edinburgh had been investigating the SNP for corruption and of course that resulted in the arrest and prosecution. from Nicholas Sturgeon's husband, so it's not great, it's not something that even a very accomplished First Minister would have found easy, something that clearly has been totally Beyond Mr youf um Andre, he has watched a lot of Scottish politics over over the years and is being the ups and downs, the dominance of the Labor Party and then collapsed and then the dominance of the SNP and is reeling from the breakdown of independence.

When you look at it now, do you think K Starm is simply the luckiest man in Britain? Well, he always has been. The case in Britain is very difficult for Labor to form a majority in Westminster without Scotland, and Scotland used to regularly provide 40 or 45 MPs from across the Labor Party to Westminster, now it looks like Mr. Starma is going to win no matter what. He may not even need Scotland to form the next government, he may have a comfortable majority without it, but if, as seems likely, he also managed to get Scotland back together, then that makes it virtually certain that he will become the next prime minister.

Minister. However there is a problem underneath all this Party politics, in that Scotland is now in quite serious decline, after 17 years of SNP government the Health Service is a complete disaster, they can't even build two bog standard fairies, in fact, the ones that started in Turkey. The appearance of construction would be completed sooner than those started many years before trying to build in Scotland and the Scottish education system, something I feel particularly strongly about as a product that used to be among the best in the world, is now plummeting. the leak tables so whoever takes over this mess from Mr Yusf of the S SMP has a real problem in Scotland and I just add also of course that the financial sector in Scotland which was always an integral part of the economy, never really recovered from the great crisis in which, of course, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Bank of Scotland were two big victims and the North Sea oil and gas is running out, not least because the greens are They made sure that no one could really exploit it, so Whoever inherits this is not a happy inheritance in Scotland.

When you look past the ups and downs of partisan politics, you see a proud, formerly successful country now in pretty serious decline, and would you attribute that to spending so much time talking about it? thinking of campaigning to produce political documents on the issue of Scottish independence and not continuing with the day-to-day work. I would attribute it to two things, one of which is that you just became obsessed with independence, uh, up, I mean, you know. They are still producing documents on independence, although there is no prospect of another referendum, there is no chance of independence in a stable future.

I'd say no chance for at least a generation. Yesterday they produced another independence document on justice in an independent Scotland. Well, nobody cares. They are upset that this is no longer going to happen, so this obsession meant that they did not continue with their day job, but they also presided over Scotland's internal affairs on those issues that are entirely within Scotland's purview, most notably health and education. What two things could be more nationally without a single attempt to reform these services or improve them, so the health services just ran out of money and that didn't work?

Waiting lists are higher than ever and in education, you know? that private schools and one school in particular that the elite of the west of Scotland send their children to all schools in Scotland is what Alist Campbell called a comprehensive b standard no academies no free schools none of the reforms that introduced under Tony Blair ever happened in Scotland, none of those introduced under the Cameron or Michael government ever happened in Scotland, so there was no public sector reform and the consequence is that the public sector in the past is now performing worse than it is in England and that's not exactly a high bar to be even worse than it is in England uh finally Andrew um I know you're very connected there's a rumor that's been circulating around Westminster this week that Richy could soon call a general election on Monday uh to what extent this is one person's thought that has then been transmitted to a sort of Chinese whisper network.

I'm not totally sure. I think the idea is that we'll all forget how bad local elections are if you're giving up on the general election? What is your interpretation? Do you think he might be tempted to do that? I think there is no credibility in that at all. There is an argument in the Tenth Dynasty, which surprises me quite a bit. about that some people think maybe they should cut it and run and leave in the summer because they think they could cut their losses that way. I think that's complete nonsense. The only hope and it is a very, very slight hope.

The only hope the Tes have is to hold on. until late autumn, when inflation could go down to 2% or even lower, there could be new growth in the economy, there would be another mini-budget with a new cut in National Insurance and so on, that could at least give them some kind of fighting chance not to win but maybe to mitigate the size of the majority of the label, if they want to leave now it just means they have given up on The Ghost and are going to be defeated so I doubt you know that not even the turkeys They vote for Christmas, so I would.

I would be surprised if the Tes decided to do that, if they did it means they are just throwing in the towel and politicians don't really usually give up the perks of office until they really have to and then they don't. Andrew doesn't always have to be good to talk to you, Andrew Neil, thank you very much for joining us on Times Radio.