Nicola Sturgeon quizzed by Douglas Ross on Scottish restrictions

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Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon faced backlash this week after a string of last-minute lockdown changes meant business across the country lost out. In an online meeting with dozens of businesses, she apologised for her government’s failure to provide “the support and clarity that we need”. She added that she was “genuinely sorry” her SNP administration had failed to meet the needs of employers by telling them about changes to restrictions “at very short notice”.

Businesses and tourism have taken a battering in the UK, with those located in Scotland having been subjected to flip-flopping restrictions throughout the pandemic.

Many will have stayed afloat as a result of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s furlough scheme and financial support.

Financial distribution among the devolved nations such as that seen in the Barnett formula has been a contentious point for years.

Political figures in England like Ryan Henson, the Conservative candidate for Bedford and Kempston in 2019, have long accused Scotland of “fleecing” English taxpayers.

Writing for Conservative Home, he argued that Scotland faced “economic ruin” should it vote for independence, but that those in England should support the bid to help affect a “thriving English economy”.

He said: “Our northern neighbours have much to lose by going independent, while England has everything to gain.

“The very fact that Gordon Brown and the Scottish parliamentary Labour party are so desperate to keep the two nations together should tell you everything that you need to know.

“Scotland faces economic ruin should it continue with its socialist policies after losing the power to fleece the Conservative-voting English taxpayers.

“It is we English who bankroll her free health prescriptions; fund the entirety of her children’s four-year long university courses; and subsidise her bloated, private-enterprise-killing, left-leaning, public sector.”

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The piece, publsihed in 2014, went on to see Mr Henson describe the SNP as a “marauding tribe from the Dark Ages,” that travels to Westminster every four years “to pillage their hard-working, wealthier and more politically sound neighbours.”

Ahead of the 2019 general election, his words resurfaced and provoked fury from the SNP.

In a statement reacting to the piece, the SNP’s constitution spokesperson, Pete Wishart, said: “These comments are typical of the contempt for Scotland that is increasingly in the mainstream of the Tory party – right up to, and including, the Prime Minister, who himself has spread the subsidy myth.

“Indeed, a recent poll found that – far from being the party of the union – most Tory members would now be happy for Scotland to become independent if that meant delivering Brexit.

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“The Tories under Boris Johnson are completely out of touch with Scotland. No wonder more and more people are concluding that independence is the only way forward.”

Mr Henson’s article came one year before the SNP made huge gains at the 2015 general election.

He later said the article had been intended as satire, claiming: “This was intended as a light-hearted take on the Scottish referendum campaign, and was taken as such at the time.

“It does not reflect my views – I passionately believe in the importance of the Union especially at this time.”

Readers reacting to the piece for Scottish-based newspaper, The National, drew attention to ambitious infrastructure projects taking place in England that used Scottish taxpayer money but would not benefit them.

One wrote: “What these blinkered, biased people conveniently ignore are all the examples of English taxpayers fleecing Scotland.

“Scottish taxpayers are helping to pay the enormous – and growing – cost of the delayed and grossly over-budget London Crossrail project that will have no benefit for Scotland or Scots.

“Taxpayers in Scotland are also helping to pay the huge cost of HS2, which will benefit Scotland and Scots hardly at all.

“Despite most Scots being opposed to nuclear weapons in general and renewal of Trident in particular, Scottish taxpayers – without being asked – are helping to pay the huge cost.

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