THERE was a good deal of disgruntled muttering last week whenAlex Salmond, the First Minister, failed to mention anything aboutthe Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) in his statement on taking Scotlandforward.
Even though the statement was not meant to be a programme forgovernment, the SFT is a crucial part of taking Scotland forward,because it is the means by which the SNP intends to raise money formajor capital projects, such as the GBP 1 billion new Forth roadbridge.
It is meant to replace the much derided public-privatepartnerships (PPPs) used by Labour, which the SNP has said allowedthe private sector to profit at the expense of the public purse.
But the wait may soon be over. The Scotsman has been told by asenior SNP source that in just a few weeks' time John Swinney, thefinance secretary, will bring the SFT proposal to the chamber.
To say it is eagerly anticipated would be an understatement.There are many MSPs who want a new school in their constituency andhave not been shy of complaining that none has been commissionedsince the SNP came to power, which has somewhat undermined theirclaim that they would match Labour's school-building programme"brick for brick".
It hasn't stopped SNP ministers opening new schools commissionedby the last Labour/Liberal Democrat administration and built throughPPP, and taking the credit for them. The whisper is that AlexSalmond is due to do that again this week.
But the SFT is most eagerly awaited by Labour, which has adopteda bunker mentality following the referendum antics of WendyAlexander. Leading Labour figures have been saying to anybody whowill listen that the SFT will be the Nationalists' Achilles' heeland they intend to use its presumed failure as a means of exposingthe "hollowness" (their new buzz word) of the Salmond government.
Perhaps in anticipation of the SNP's woes, Labour backroom staffhave let it be known that they have started a covert internetcampaign on the issue.
A message has gone round telling people to put ChristineMcKelvie's name into YouTube, where an edited clip comes up of theapparently hapless Nationalist MSP on Newsnight Scotland strugglingdesperately to explain the SFT. Like her colleagues, she strugglesto do so, although she is clearly reading (badly) from notes andseems to concede that there is little difference with the SFT andPPPs. The clip ends with a "vote Labour" message and reveals how theopposition intends to try to fight back from a calamitous year andthe troubles it may cause the SNP.
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