SNP are "say all, do nothing" party - Lyon

1.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 13th May 2009

Commenting on the launch of the SNP European election campaign, top Liberal Democrat candidate George Lyon said:

"The SNP are a say all, do nothing party.

top European candidate George Lyon"They promised first time house buyers grants, promise broken. They promised to dump student debt, instead they dumped the debt on students. They promised to cut primary class sizes, guess what happened?

"I wonder how many promises made by the SNP during this campaign will be cast aside without a second thought.

"The truth is the SNP cannot be trusted on the big issues like climate change, cross border crime, job creation and banking reform.

"Scotland needs a strong Liberal voice, not the isolationist whimper of the SNP."

Notes:

The First Minister: "My view is that people should follow manifesto commitments." - Official report, 6th March 2008

Yet in two years of the SNP Government at Holyrood the following manifesto commitments have been broken:

Student Debt

SNP manifesto commitment: "We will remove the burden of debt repayments owed by Scottish domiciled and resident graduates"

Promise Broken: Fiona Hyslop, Education Secretary, was asked on the BBC's Politics Show "Are you going to remove student debt? Are you going to write it off?" Her reply was: "We never promised to write it off." - March 2008

First Time Buyers' Grant

SNP manifesto commitment: "We have already announced plans to introduce a first time buyers' grant of £2,000, to help with the costs and outlays of buying their first home."

Promise Broken: Without even bringing it before Parliament, Nicola Sturgeon announced that the SNP were now taking a different approach and that direct grants were not effective. - June 2008

Primary Class Sizes

SNP manifesto commitment: "We will reduce class sizes in Primary 1, 2 and 3 to eighteen pupils or less."

Promise Broken: Fiona Hyslop said that she did not want to disturb a class simply to reduce it to 18. By the end of 2008, only 13.2% of Primary 1-3 class sizes were 18 or below.

Scrapping Council Tax

SNP manifesto commitment: "We will scrap the unfair Council Tax". John Swinney also said "No reviews, no task-forces, no inquiries. Let's get the job done - let's axe the tax."

Promise Broken: By February 2009 John Swinney had changed his mind and said the SNP had decided "not to introduce legislation to abolish the unfair council tax… until after the election in 2011."