The SNP Finance Secretary, Shona Robison, confirmed that the Scottish Government was going to slash £30m from the mental health budget In the coming year at a time when Scotland is facing an unprecedented mental health crisis, especially among our young people. The SNP are looking at making cuts of up to £680 million from the budget to fill a looming funding gap due to their financial mismanagement.
At the same time as they are making these cuts, they have ring-fenced £35m for “International and European relations”, which includes the running costs for its nine “embassies.” This funding is used for overseas visits and the Scottish Government’s network of offices abroad. Nationalist ministers often go on expensive junkets abroad, including Humza Yousaf’s recent trip to Dubai to attend Cop28, with his net zero secretary Mairi McAllan joining him there. Last year, the budget for these activities swelled by 5.1 per cent, from £33.3m to £35m, with the SNP stepping up overseas activities, with nine “embassies” set up, which cost almost £9m a year to run.
As well as spending on “embassies” and foreign trips for SNP Ministers, the SNP has recently announced it was sending £500,000 to help UN efforts to provide food, health, shelter and protection to people in Gaza, as well as £250,000 to help the agency deal with the aftermath of the recent dam burst disaster in Libya. On top of this, the Scottish Government is spending £7 million that it promised at Cop 27 as part of its so-called “climate justice Fund”; this money has been sent to countries such as Malawi, Zambia and Rwanda.
The SNP has also pledged to double this spending in the coming years and has stated that if it achieves its goal of Independence, it will spend 0.7% of Scotland’s Gross National income on foreign aid, which is double what the UK currently spends.
Meanwhile, Scotland is seeing massive budget cuts and a mental health crisis that is seeing almost 30,000 children, young people and adults on waiting lists for mental health services. Between 2019 and 2022, the calls to NHS 24 seeking help for mental health conditions had risen by 700%, and in the last decade, 7,576 people had died from probable suicide in Scotland. Mental Health services in Scotland, like much of the NHS under the SNP, are massively understaffed, and the SNP has, like many other pledges it has made, failed to employ at least 1000 extra mental health staff it pledged to recruit.
The Scottish National Party should prioritise delivering on its commitment to improving the lives of the Scottish people rather than posturing as a significant player in global diplomacy. The SNP’s projects, such as the “Embassies,” “Climate Justice Fund,” and “International Aid Fund”, ought to be terminated, and the funds should be redirected towards enhancing the quality of life for the Scottish public.
