The Covid-19 pandemic presented many challenges for members of our community, as it did for the rest of the world.

Sadly, the difficulties endured by many of our friends and family remain with them.

The pain of losing loved ones, being unable to see relatives and friends and attend the funerals of those close to us as Covid restrictions curbed everyday life, still burns bright in our memory.

Yet, while the nation was enduring some of the greatest challenges in a generation, it would appear that the Scottish Government was more concerned with covering their tracks.

Evidence heard at the UK Covid Inquiry revealed that Nicola Sturgeon manually deleted all her WhatsApp messages. So too did John Swinney.

Humza Yousaf said he had deleted his messages, but found them again. And high-profile adviser Professor Jason Leitch, our national clinical director, said: “WhatsApp deletion is a pre-bed ritual.” 

The Covid-19 bereaved families group summed up the feeling of the nation when they said they felt betrayed by these revelations from people they had trusted to tell the truth.

Meantime, the now-former cabinet secretary for NHS recovery, health and social care, Michael Matheson, has been forced to resign after widespread controversy over his attempts to cover up an £11,000 data-roaming bill racked up during a 2022 holiday.

It later emerged that his children had used the device to watch a football match from their holiday in Morocco - but he'd insisted the bill was a “legitimate parliamentary expense”.

Whilst the SNP government continues to be mired in controversy, with an ongoing police investigation into party finances, their eye is off the ball and our public services are crumbling.

Promised NHS infrastructure projects, such as the building of new National Treatment Centres,  part of the flagship NHS Recovery Plan to cut waiting lists following the pandemic, have been put on ice for at least two years due to a lack of finance.

Complaints from residents in my constituency show that people continue to face long waits for treatment. In fact one in six people in Scotland are on NHS waiting lists.

Waiting times for A&E treatment fall well below the Scottish Government’s own standards, which have rarely been met since before the pandemic began.

Councils are also feeling the burden, as the Scottish Government continues to place a stranglehold on vital funding, as well as failing to fully fund commitments such as the promised freeze on council tax.

These are just some of the crises facing public services while the SNP fast becomes the party of broken promises.

Things are getting worse, not better. It’s time for a change.