Lies, Damned Lies and the Daily Record

You can tell the election is nearing when the Daily Record ratchets up the level of vitriol it has for the SNP. The normal snide remarks are beefed up to a full assault, and the facts of the matter are usually the first casualty in their style of reporting. This is especially the case when the SNP are doing well in the opinion polls - as we are just now.

The edition of the paper from 8th February carried a full two page article with the alarmist headline "SNP's £8billion Spree". Of course the paper is entitled to print what it likes, but this particular report had me more than a little cheesed off. Firstly, it was the way that the paper has carried this claim, made by Labour, as fact, rather than as an allegation made by the Labour Party. They proceeded to reel off a list of SNP spending promises, with Labour's price tag attached without any analysis by their reporters to see if these prices are in fact correct.

In this way the paper is acting as little more than a mouthpiece for the Labour Party as we enter the business end of the Scottish Parliamentary election campaign. What they failed to do was investigate these claims. What they also failed to do, was offer any form of balance what so ever. For instance, where was the critique of the Labour Party's support for the renewal of Trident nuclear weapons? It has been estimated that this will cost the taxpayer some £75billion over the long term, of which I imagine we can reasonably estimate that at least £7billion would be Scottish revenue. Where was it reported by the Daily Record that the Labour Party supports the introduction of ID cards which may cost up to £19billion over 10 years according to some experts? Where was it reported that the Labour Party supports the creation of a new generation of nuclear power stations - which would cost billions to construct themselves - when the Nuclear Decommissiong Authority has estimated that clean up costs from the current generation of power stations may cost us £70billion?

The answer is, of course, that the Daily Record mentioned none of these things. They would rather just blithely accept whatever dross spoon fed them by the Labour Party and accept it as fact. The reality is that of course, the commitments made by the SNP will have a price tag attached to them. Indeed, some of the prices quoted in the Record are not that far off the mark, but some are rather wild indeed. Take for example the suggestion by Labour (quoted in full by the Record of course) that our plans to abolish the graduate endowment and to replace student loans with grants will cost over £2billion over four years. This is utter nonsense. The SNP has rigourously costed this proposal which will cost £100million a year. The Labour Party has inflated the price fivefold in an attempt to confuse and scare the electorate.

This is a silly game to play.

Politics should be about presenting a vision to the electorate. The SNP has established a coherent set of policies for this campaign that when implemented will transform the social fabric and the economic performance of our country. The Labour Party wishes to present only negative attacks on independence and scaremongering about the cost of our platform. They offer no vision what so ever as they are unable to come up with any fresh ideas for Scotland after a decade in power.

The fact of the matter is that Scotland is well able to afford the proposals that the SNP sets out. Indeed the real question should be, can Scotland afford not to implement these proposals, which represent a chance for Scotland to radically improve itself.

Sadly I predict more negativity and scaremongering from the Labour Party over the next few months, and even more sadly I predict they will be all too eagerly aided in that by the Daily Record.

Still, I will continue to push forward a positive message in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth. I know people are fed up with the negativity that is all too common in modern politics, so you won't be getting that from me!