Buy Now - Blame Somebody Else Later

The NHS in Scotland is forecasting it could lose the equivalent of 3,790 full time staff over the next year. This has given the Job Centre Plus Party another opportunity to remind us that their collective amnesia has yet to be treated.

As she launched the "more Nats fewer nurses" campaign, Labour’s health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie has said: "You simply cannot remove thousands of doctors, nurses and midwives from the NHS without damaging standards of care," she said, adding: "Labour believe (sic) these cuts are unacceptable and we will campaign relentlessly to defend the NHS."

She might want to take that up with the board of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde which has said an investment programme meant it could provide the same standard of care with less staff.

Now, when I last checked, that wasn’t what you could describe as a hotbed of nationalism.

This is the sort of time when an extra £1b would come in handy for the NHS in Scotland.

Funnily enough that’s just a we bit less than is required over the next five years in repayments for privately financed hospitals commissioned when Labour was last in government at Holyrood.

Add that to the cuts we’re seeing as a direct result of the unprecedented mismanagement of the public finances by Labour whilst in office at UK level and you can see why this is the fault of the SNP.