THERE HAVE for some time been signs that Scotland is moving in a very worrying direction under the SNP leadership. The Named Person project, originally proposed in the Children and Young People Act (Scotland) in 2014, was the first government initiative that alerted people to the potential danger of state intrusion into family life, although already by that time, in 2012, the groundwork had been laid by the decision to fuse Scotland’s eight regional police forces into a single Police Scotland.

This raised concerns about the ability of the SNP to exercise political control over the police and, therefore, the country. There followed a lengthy stramash about whether it should be liable for VAT, as a national police force would be (unlike the regional forces). SNP supporters accused the Treasury of discrimination, adding another faux grievance to their quiver.

The referendum campaign of 2012-14 presented us with worrying examples of SNP bullying. Alex Salmond ill-advisedly tried to pressure the then Principal of St Andrews University, Professor Louise Richardson, into withdrawing a statement she had made about Scotland’s departure from the UK being detrimental to research funding for Scottish universities.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Health Matters