Bungling SNP ‘faces handing £450m back to the EU’ after failing to spend it on poverty and economic development

The SNP has been accused of ‘negligence on a remarkable scale’ amid claims Scotland faces returning £450m of unspent funding to the EU.

The Scottish Government is expected to repay 28 percent of the European structural and investment funding it has received over the past six years.

The huge blow is apparently a result of its failure to spend the money on tackling poverty and economic development before this month’s deadline.

The grim figures emerged as John Swinney launched the SNP’s election campaign – with another poll showing the party is on track to lose a large proportion of its MPs.

John Swinney launched the SNP’s election campaign today – as another poll showed the party set to lose a large proportion of its MPs

The Scottish Government is expected to repay 28 percent of the European structural and investment funding it has received over the past six years (photo, stock photo by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

EU data analyzed by the Sunday Times indicates that Scotland has already returned €199 million from the funding pot for the six-year programme.

A further €331 million has not been earmarked, suggesting the total could be almost £451 million at current exchange rates.

Programs to promote employment, education, training and small businesses are among the areas feared to be affected.

It is a huge headache for the SNP after former Prime Minister Humza Yousaf introduced a higher income tax band in April, amid a battle to fill a £1.5 billion hole in budgets.

EU funding is generally not fully used. But by contrast, Wales is expected to return 9 percent of EU funding, England 6 percent and Northern Ireland just 2 percent.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said: ‘This is waste and negligence on an inexcusable scale.

‘The SNP have thrown half a billion pounds down the drain. Their new slogan should be a waste for Scotland.

“This funding could have been spent on vital infrastructure across Scotland, but the incompetence of the SNP has lost this funding forever.

‘This is like the ferry scandal in terms of the SNP government’s waste of taxpayers’ money.’

Scottish Labor frontman Jackie Baillie said: ‘This shocking report exposes the extent of the chaos engulfing Scotland’s NHS.

‘The fact that so many patients are languishing in the corridors when they are in urgent need of help is nothing short of a scandal.

‘This is the result of seventeen years of SNP failure and fourteen years of Tory failure.

‘Labor will deliver the change our NHS so desperately needs – starting by increasing funding by £134 million a year.’

But a Scottish Government spokeswoman said: ‘These figures do not reflect the totality of expenditure to date from the European Structural Funds programs for the period 2014-2020. Final spending figures will not be known until 2025, when the programs are formally closed.

‘Until then, the Scottish Government wants to maximize reimbursement from the European Commission where possible.

‘The use of the European Structural Funds is subject to strict conditions and all stakeholders in the programs are responsible for compliance with the regulations. Thousands of people, businesses and communities have benefited from the investment of the 2014-2020 funds in Scotland to date.”

Meanwhile, a Survation survey shows that 32 percent of voters plan to support the SNP in July’s general election, down six percentage points from the previous poll two months ago.

According to the poll, Labor is on course to gain a clear lead in Scotland with 36 percent of the vote.

The result would mean the SNP would slip from the 48 seats it won in 2019 to just 16, while Labor would see a rise of two MPs in Scotland to 28.

The Tories have 17 percent of the vote, which would give them eight seats, while the Liberal Democrats are on 9 percent, which would give them five seats, according to a projection based on the results.

Pollster Sir John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, said: ‘The fallout from Humza Yousaf’s termination of the Bute House agreement has allowed the SNP to install a slightly less unpopular leader in John Swinney.

‘However, Mr Swinney’s rating is well below that of Nicola Sturgeon before she resigned as head of the SNP last year, and Mr Yousaf’s demise has not provided an immediate solution to the SNP’s electoral problems.

Mr Swinney urged people to ‘vote the SNP to put Scotland’s interests first’ as he formally launched the party’s election campaign in Glasgow.

Labor (pictured, Keir Starmer with leader in Scotland Anas Sarwar) is on course to gain a clear lead in Scotland with 36 percent of the vote, according to polls

Mr Swinney said Scots “want us to demonstrate the relevance of independence to their lives”.

He said: “If we don’t do that, we probably won’t get much of a hearing in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, and frankly, we wouldn’t deserve to.

‘So when we talk about independence we need to demonstrate again and again that we are talking about people’s core interests, such as raising living standards and protecting the NHS.

‘That laser-like focus on people’s daily concerns is our guiding principle. There are people telling me that I should forget about independence in this election. But you know what?

‘Having seen Keir Starmer’s serial turnaround in the pursuit of power, I think people are clamoring for political leadership that sticks to its principles.’