DOES anybody believe that someone with a connection to the Scottish Government did not leak details of the latest Scottish Budget to the media before it was delivered in the Scottish Parliament?

There are usually some easy clues in the wording of the emphatic denials of any such wrongdoing by politicians. “I give you my categorical assurance…that no individual was authorised on my behalf to disclose any information,” said John Swinney.

I am sure that what he says is true. But what do “authorised” and “on my behalf” actually mean? What is authorisation? An instruction in writing? A wink? Just knowing without having to say anything exactly where a piece of information will go when it is given to a specific PR person? Leaving papers carelessly in unfortunate places? What about “on my behalf" – a strange choice of words which neither rule out a direct instruction by the man himself nor a bit of initiative by a subordinate? The assurances do not reassure.

I cannot point the finger at John Swinney alone. How many people nod and say “of course” when Michelle Mone assures us, via her lawyers, that she “did not benefit financially and was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity”?


Guy Stenhouse: Scottish Government's job is to work for taxpayer – not union bosses


Lawyers and PR spinners are there to make words dance. To assemble, reassemble and disassemble facts or fragments of them into a picture their master wants to project. Is that picture a lie? Generally it is not but it is also not the real truth and I am not talking about Meghan Markle “My truth” here, but what a reasonable person would conclude if they had all the facts.

Each time this happens we, the electorate, lose a bit more faith in those who are there to serve us. People, especially the young, disconnect from politics. We all become more cynical, less trusting but paradoxically more open to manipulation. The simply-laughable QAnon movement in America is an example where trust in politicians becomes so completely absent that absurd conspiracy theories are believed by apparently rationale people.

John Swinney was using the distortion machine heavily in his Budget speech two weeks ago, when referring to the UK Government he said: “Despite repeated requests, no additional resources have being forthcoming for this year”. How solemn; it sounds strangely like something Neville Chamberlain would have said but it is actually laughable. We get more than our fair share of the UK’s overall resources.

The UK has borrowed heavily on our behalf and at much better interest rates than we could have done ourselves in order to fund that largesse, but still we want to make out that we are in some way done down. It is a Big Fat Lie but the actual words used are the truth – we asked and they said No. Of course they said no, the request was ludicrous.

The UK Government gets the blame for “calamitous choices” but no humble pie about ferries or Prestwick Airport – on which the total money wasted will not be covered by the extra tax Scottish taxpayers are being asked to pay this year. To sugar the pill we are told the extra tax will be for the NHS but if money had not been squandered elsewhere it could have been used to fund the NHS too.


Guy Stenhouse: Thank goodness the grown-ups are back in charge – Sturgeon take note


The truth is that all Governments have to make difficult choices. That is what being in Government is about – if it seems easy you are making a muck of it.

The Scottish Government makes many choices: extra funding for social benefits, free university education, more generous pay settlements for public employees, never facing up to the reforms of pensions and working practices which are needed in the public sector.

These though are Scotland’s choices and they are Scotland’s to make but they have consequences. There is less money for other things, our roads deteriorate, our universities slip quietly backwards, our local authorities have to do more with less every year, our schools suffer. Depressingly the SNP Government turns the screw on taxpayers for more money rather than make politically difficult choices.

Scotland has a generous settlement within the overall framework of the UK, more money than we can generate ourselves, more money than we would ever get from the EU. We already have the levers we need to make Scotland grow faster to create wealth to pay for better public services but we don’t focus on that. Instead the great demagogue – sorry democrat – Nicola Sturgeon hurls her political energy into transgender rights which the public overwhelmingly do not want.

The truth is all we ask. Stop blaming others. Make choices and live with the consequences.