Troubled SNP try every trick in the book to shore up support - Sue Webber

The Rutherglen by-election and a host of opinion polls show the SNP is in trouble, but that doesn’t just mean they will lose a few seats, but the end of the road for the independence movement for years to come.

We can expect SNP strategists to try every trick in the book to shore up support and that includes targeted government spending where they need the votes most.

North Lanarkshire is a key battleground, where the council’s SNP group was torn apart by sexual misconduct allegations against ex-leader Jordan Linden, so I was not surprised to learn this week that Mr Yousaf has apparently decided to put replacing Monklands Hospital in Airdrie at the top of NHS Scotland’s capital investment priorities.

The estimated cost for the new University Hospital Monklands has doubled in three years to £700 million, so other projects will feel the squeeze, nowhere more than in Edinburgh where NHS Lothian has a long list of vital projects in the pipeline.

The Royal Edinburgh in Morningside has been waiting six years for progress on Phase Two of its redevelopment, but as that includes the Ritson Clinic for addiction rehabilitation maybe with the SNP’s dreadful record on recovery services it’s no surprise they appear less than interested.

There’s no sign of the new national treatment centre for St John’s in Livingston, needed to tackle the mounting backlog for elective surgery like hip replacements, and the cost is now approaching £200m.

The Royal Infirmary desperately needs a new sterilisation unit, not for family planning but for cleaning surgical instruments without which no operation can happen. And as all NHS Lothian hospitals use the unit, it’s hard to think of a more vital facility.

And then there is the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion (PAEP) in Lauriston, declared unfit for purpose in 2015 and a replacement costing £45m approved in 2018. The commitment was reaffirmed by Mr Yousaf in 2021 when he was health secretary – “I am delighted we are a step closer to delivering improved specialised eye services for Edinburgh and the wider region,” he said then – but two years on there has been no progress, and the cost is now said to be well over £120m.

Readers may remember that 2021 commitment was made under pressure from a sustained campaign against a plan to ditch the PAEP and rely on GP services and a small unit at St John’s, and well-placed NHS sources told me the full PAEP replacement is a victim of Mr Yousaf’s commitment to Monklands.

I wrote to the NHS Lothian chief executive Calum Campbell and received a somewhat terse response that: “NHS Lothian has not been advised that the plans for the new Eye Pavilion have been cancelled.” I also wrote to health secretary Michael Matheson and have had no reply.

With an election coming, it’s unlikely they will admit there will never be a new eye pavilion, but the failure to set a delivery date has put the whole project into limbo. It’s not a political dodge but a coward’s way out.

Sue Webber is a Scottish Conservative MSP for Lothian