Nicola Sturgeon accused of ‘criminal negligence’ over Scottish NHS crisis

Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of “criminal negligence” over the NHS after it emerged that Scottish independence, not the health service crisis, had been chosen as the SNP’s priority issue at Holyrood next week.

In a keynote speech designed to reset his leadership of the Scottish Tories, Douglas Ross claimed it was “completely bonkers” for the Scottish government to select its plan to break up the UK as the first issue to be debated once MSPs return on Tuesday.

He said that while the choice would once have been seen as “almost laughable” it was now far more serious because sick patients were dying amid the turmoil in hospitals.

Mr Ross told an audience of politicians, party staffers and journalists in Edinburgh on Friday that NHS staff and patients had repeatedly contacted him over the Christmas break with “horror stories from our wards”.

Ms Sturgeon has faced criticism for declining to appear in public to face scrutiny over unprecedented pressures on the devolved NHS over recent days.

The SNP refused to back calls to recall Holyrood early to debate how to address record A&E waiting times amid warnings from doctors that the health service was on the brink of collapse. On Friday, Scottish Labour called for the Army to be drafted in to ease the chaos in hospitals.

Once MSPs return, the first debate, a topic selected by the SNP/Green government, will be entitled “People’s Right to Choose – Respecting Scotland’s Democratic Mandate”.

Mr Ross said: “There was a time it was almost laughable how out of touch they were, speaking about separation at every turn. Now, as people are lying on hospital floors and dying because of delay in being treated, the SNP negligence is criminal.

“We know our public services are struggling and we need more support. Yet the first debate we’re having is independence. I think that’s completely bonkers – it’s absolutely ridiculous.”

Following the criticism, it was announced that Ms Sturgeon had chaired a meeting of the Scottish government’s resilience committee on Friday to discuss the pressures facing the NHS.

The First Minister said she would leave “no stone unturned” to alleviate what she described as “a period of intense and indeed unprecedented pressure”. The Scottish government said Humza Yousaf, the health secretary, would update parliament “at the earliest opportunity” on work to support the NHS.

Mr Ross, who in October acknowledged that he may not see out the year in the job amid internal plotting against him, said his party would now begin work on the vision it would put to voters at the next Holyrood election.

He said that while the SNP would hold a conference in March to decide the specifics of its plan to turn the next general election into a “de-facto referendum”, he would call one in April on the economy and public services.

He added that the Tories would “set out the vision” that will form the core of their 2026 Holyrood manifesto at the event and suggested that in the longer term his party would make the case for lower spending on Scottish-only welfare payouts to pay for investment in public services.

“One of only two areas of protected spending in Scotland is the welfare budget,” said Mr Ross. “We’ve seen critical areas –education, policing, justice budgets – cut. We’ve got to look at the equity in these decisions, and I want to see the resources going to areas in the frontline the public uses day in, day out.”

The Scottish Tory leader devoted much of his speech to attacking Scottish Labour, which polls suggest have replaced the Tories as Scotland’s most popular Unionist party, pleading with pro-UK voters not to desert the Conservatives.