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Dean M Thomson

23 Nov, 11 tweets, 3 min read

Short thread demonstrating how the SNP imposes cuts to Scottish education; with the Scottish 'Greens' defending it all.

Talking education attainment gap funding, and SNP sleight-of-hand alterations to resource distribution and how this directly targets the poorest pupils.
[1/10

➡️19 Jun 2021: '£215 million to improve attainment'

On 19 June 2021 on the Scottish Government's website they published plans boasting about £215m to improve the educational attainment gap.

Great news, something does need to be done about it.
[2/10

Part of this announcement was that 9 of the councils with the highest share of deprivation would share £43m of funding among themselves - called “Challenge Authorities” in the announcement.
[3/10

But this is where the SNP sleight-of-hand cut comes in.

Because you see...the Daily Record has discovered that Nicola Sturgeon's government has quietly altered this plan...
[4/10

➡️'Revamping'

Now the SNP are planning to distribute the £43m among ALL local authorities. It won't be targeted specifically to the 9 local authorities with the highest levels of deprivation.
[5/10

This represents a direct cut in resources by the SNP. And it is inflected on the poorest most deprived kids. Money originally planned to go to the poorest kids no longer will.

Yet the Scottish 'Green' Party defends this cut...
[6/10

Scottish 'Green' MSP Ross Greer welcomed the changes. I guess that's another example of the price of power for Green politicians.
[7/10

There you have it, the SNP and Scottish 'Green' Party are both fine with no longer distributing millions of pounds of resources specifically to the nine local councils with the highest concentrations of deprivation in Scotland.
[8/10

That £43m could've helped many kids living in Scotland's most deprived locations.

But it is no longer targeted like that, Sturgeon has 'revamped' the distribution criteria to water it all down. The butter can be scrapped over yet more bread.

Oh well, same about the kids
[9/10

Sources:

▪️ScotGov original announcement: '£215 million to improve attainment'
gov.scot/news/gbp-215-m…
▪️ Daily Record revealing the cut: 'SNP ministers face schools backlash as leak shows funding shake-up for poorest areas'
dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/…
[10/10

* scraped not scrapped. Excuse typo.

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Dean M Thomson

@DeanMThomson

26 Nov

Looking at findings in the YouGov survey for The Times & comparing to Panelbase findings.

It makes bad reading for Nicola Sturgeon and her constitutional agenda.
[1/9

▶️Regarding indyref2 timing...

| YouGov Sample: 1060 Adults (16+)
18th - 22nd November 2021 |

Nicola Sturgeon said recently "We intend to take the steps that will enable a referendum to happen before the end of 2023."

But the public *clearly* do not support this - at all.
[2/9

YouGov found that in May (2nd-4th):

55% opposed holding another referendum next year, but even more significantly 50% opposed holding one before 2023.

In fact, only 34% backed Nicola Sturgeon's preferred timetable.
[3/9

Read 9 tweets

Dean M Thomson

@DeanMThomson

25 Oct

SNP Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken didn't have a particularly good time at the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee...
[1/7

▶️"All cities have rats"

She started saying "no", the bins aren't overflowing and no cleansing employees have been taken to hospital after coming into contact from rats.
That quickly turned into "one, maybe two small incidents" involving rats, employees and hospitalisation
[2/7

▶️The lady is not for turning...

She was asked if she regretted claiming the city only needed a "wee spruce up", or that SNP local gov cuts were necessary so as to end "statism"... her answer was an emphatic "no".
[3/7

Read 8 tweets

Dean M Thomson

@DeanMThomson

2 Sep

Thread on SNP’s record in Glasgow local government

If you saw the SNP Glasgow City Council (GCC) leader Susan Aitken STV interview you might be forgiven for thinking it was a car crash. It was. But the SNP’s legacy in Glasgow is even worse than you can imagine.
(1/16

➡️ Budget choices

According to Audit Scotland’s 2021 report GCC has ‘a track record of delivering significant savings’

In plain English ‘budget savings’ means a reduction in money spent. Obviously. GCC leader Susan Aitken might argue this merely represents efficiencies
(2/16

Indeed if ‘budget savings’ merely represent delivering the same local services, capital investment etc but cheaper…isn’t that a good thing?

Except what if services are deteriorating?
(3/16

Read 17 tweets

Dean M Thomson

@DeanMThomson

31 Aug

Thread 🧵/

Don’t trust the first minister with the post-covid NHS recovery plan. Fact is, she has long presided over a mess. Let’s remind ourselves of the state of healthcare under the SNP prior to the May elections. Ask yourself, is the SNP capable of fixing things?

(1/11

➡️ Waiting lists

During quarter ending 31 March 2021, waiting list sizes continued to increase. Percentage of patients experiencing longer waits also increased. “At 31 March 2021, 13.5% (47,884) had been waiting over 52 weeks or more, up on 7% (23,928) at 31 December 2020”
(2/11

➡️ Treatment Time Guarantee

Of those patients admitted to hospital, Public Health Scotland statistics report found 71.5% had waited 12 weeks (84 days) or less. This compares to 61% for the previous quarter and 68.3% for quarter ending 31 March 2020.

Sounds good…except…
(3/11

Read 11 tweets

Dean M Thomson

@DeanMThomson

31 May

Now you see it, now you don't

The story behind the allegedly missing £600,000 SNP 'indyref2' fund.

Where it originated from, when it allegedly first went missing. Why it matters now SNP figures are resigning from the finance & audit committee & national treasurer role.
[1/21]

1⃣ The year is 2017, before the General Election of that year. And the SNP launched a fundraiser for a planned indyref2.

On ref.scot it was made clear that all money raised on the website was to be ringfenced to fight a future independence referendum
[2/21]

And according to reporting this indyref2 fundraiser; which was explicitly stated as being for the purposes of a future indyref2; raised £482,000 of the original £1m target.
[3/21]

Read 23 tweets

Dean M Thomson

@DeanMThomson

30 May

Back in March we had members of SNP Finance & Audit Committee resign, claiming lack of access & information to party accounts.

Now in May SNP finance boss Douglas Chapman quit over 'lack of information'

It's time we asked: what the hell is going on with SNP finances?
[1/17]

➡️Back in March...

It was reported that Frank Ross (qualified chartered accountant, Lord Provost of Edinburgh Council), Livingston company director Cynthia Guthrie & Mid Scotland & Fife NEC member Allison Graham had all resigned from the SNP's Finance & Audit Committee
[2/17]

At the time it was alleged that they had felt compelled to resign due to Peter Murrell (SNP chief exec, husband to Nicola Sturgeon) was refusing them full access to the party accounts.
[3/17]

Read 19 tweets

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