Opinion: SNP must accept its share of the blame for Scotland's ills

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It has been an interesting summer with a new Prime Minister elected and continuing Brexit developments.

There have been many positives coming from these, namely more investment around the UK, some of which Scotland will benefit from, with Argyll and Bute set to get a share of £300 million and the NHS in Scotland gaining £180 million.

Of course our local MP, who highlighted mistakes by the SNP government when they created Police Scotland and had been well advised about VAT implications, didn’t welcome this.

It seems no blame ever rests with the SNP, even when we see clearly education standards dropping, unemployment rising, public services under severe strain, gaps in tax income, and mismanagement issues left, right and centre with new hospitals, business contracts which have resulted in an enormous loss of public money.

The SNP really ought to focus closer to home before pointing fingers. It appears the SNP have changed their minds on independence and now want dependence within the EU, or just a new angle to take.

After all, if Scotland had voted to leave the UK in 2014 it also would have left the EU.

For Scotland to gain back control of some of its most famous industries, just for the SNP to offer to sell them back to the EU, is scandalous.

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There have been some inaccuracies recently regarding the LIBOR funding originally announced by George Osborne for the Helensburgh Seafront Development, which I had been heavily involved in securing.

This £5million donation towards the Helensburgh Leisure facilities has been delivered. The council had a budget for the project and had agreed to underwrite the costs, but if this funding came through then the council wouldn’t need to underwrite the costs. The money has been paid and is in the account waiting for the project to be delivered.

While the leisure facilities are being upgraded, it is vital that the pier is also invested in and brought back up to standard.

Helensburgh is a well known seaside town, and a busy pier is vital to that infrastructure and the amount of tourism generated from it is huge. I hope that adequate funding can be sourced for this and will do anything I can to help secure the future of the pier.