MORE than £4.5billion of taxpayers’ money has “vanished into a black hole of SNP incompetence” over the last 14 years, the Scottish Tories have claimed 

Leader Douglas Ross said the “shocking” sum had been wasted on a series of bungled and delayed building and IT projects plus bad investments, some truly scandalous.

His party today published a dossier listing scores of items from public accounts which it said showed the SNP had wasted between £52m and £840m a year since coming to power.

Among the problems it highlighted were a doubling of the cost of the devolved social security agency to £651m, a £147m delay to the Edinburgh Sick Kids hospital, the £99m overspend on two delayed CalMac ferries, and £24m on the malicious Rangers prosecution.

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Campaigning in Fife, where the government lost a £47m investment in the collapsed BiFab engineering yard prior to its recent purchase, Mr Ross said: “The SNP have wasted a shocking amount of taxpayers’ money over their 14 years failing Scotland.

“They’ve lurched from scandal to scandal, squandering billions in the process through sheer incompetence.

“This vast sum could have been spent on improving our schools, hospitals and public services. Instead, it vanished into a black hole of SNP incompetence. The amount they throw away escalates with every new SNP Government.”

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Despite the UK Tory Government being accused of wasting billions during the pandemic on failed IT projects and rushed procurement, he went on: “The reckless way they waste cash is visible all over Scotland  - delays to the Sick Kids in Edinburgh, water problems at the QEUH in Glasgow, botched ferry-building at Ferguson Marine in Inverclyde, a bad deal at BiFab in Fife, hold ups to the AWPR in the North East, and a CAP IT system that plagued rural areas.

“The SNP have not only wasted billions, they’ve wasted the last 14 years by putting independence first and everything else last.

“If the SNP win a majority, they will waste the next Scottish Parliament focussed on getting another referendum, instead of rebuilding Scotland.”

Mr Ross recently claimed many of his Holyrood manifesto spending plans could be financed by cutting waste and greater efficiency, an ambition that has eluded governments down the ages.

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Pressed on the improbabilty of his claim in a Herald podcast, he said: “Well, we have to try it, because we had the IT system for the Common Agricultural Policy payments, it was a huge failure on a cost of several million pounds. 

“We've got hospitals that were years late and being opened, we've got ferries that have been built that have never been in the water. 

“These are all projects that have cost the Scottish taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds.

“And if we had been more efficient as a government, here in Scotland with these projects, we would have more money to spend on the frontline vital services that people rely on.”