The SNP’s controversial plans for a National Care Service have already cost taxpayers an “eye-watering” £28 million, the Scottish Conservatives can reveal.
It has been confirmed, in response to a written question, that from 2021-22 to 2024-25 a total of £28,730,224 has been spent on, or allocated to, the National Care Service.
Tess White questioned the health secretary, Neil Gray, over the figure in exchanges in the chamber this afternoon and called on the SNP Government to drop their “doomed” plans to centralise social care provision, which is predicted to cost taxpayers around £2 billion in total.
She urged the SNP to stop throwing good money after bad on a scheme that’s unworkable amid opposition from councils, trade unions and now NHS chiefs.
Scottish Conservative deputy health spokesperson Tess White MSP said: “Taxpayers will be astonished that over £28 million has already been squandered on the SNP’s doomed National Care Service.
“Enough is enough, the nationalists need to pull the plug on their unaffordable, centralised power grab which no one supports, before a further penny of scarce resources is wasted.
“It’s just common sense that every penny allocated to this flawed bill should be given to cash-strapped councils, who understand local care needs far better than SNP bureaucrats in Edinburgh.
“Council chiefs, trade unions, and NHS bosses are united in their opposition to this fatally flawed scheme but, in typical SNP fashion, Neil Gray is ploughing ahead regardless.”
Notes:
Link to Craig Hoy's written question and ministerial response: