WHENEVER faced with calls from the SNP to heed the democratic will of the Scottish people, Tories have a go-to response.
Get on with the day job they cry. And chief among their supposed concerns in Scotland is the health system.
This line has often been picked up in the media, despite evidence that Scotland’s NHS is outperforming other parts of the UK in key metrics.
Others have long pointed out that the healthcare system in the rest of the UK is crumbling after a decade of austerity measures from Tory-led governments.
Indeed, Oxford University Professor Danny Dorling, Fellow for Equality and Diversity, has recognised that Scotland’s healthcare system is taking a drastically different approach to the NHS in England.
During a BBC News interview, it was put to him that the system in England, where the infant mortality rate rose after 2015, was starting to develop problems similar to those in the US.
The professor said: “England is moving towards on the better-off states of the United States. Scotland, interestingly, is moving towards being slightly more like the Scandinavian countries, which have incredibly good health outcomes.”
He added: “We are seeing a kind of splitting apart in the UK in terms of spending, policy, beliefs and outcomes”.
Watch his full response here.
📺 Oxford professor Danny Dorling highlights the stark contrast between the English and Scottish approaches to healthcare.
— The SNP (@theSNP) February 27, 2020
🔍 “In Scotland they decided to actually spend more on infants and babies. And there, they have reduced the infant mortality rate." pic.twitter.com/J1Yo1npYJP
Maybe the message will get through to the Scottish Government’s detractors … but we won’t hold our breath.
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