DESPITE the surprise announcement of next month's general election, it seems the SNP Government can't make it more than a few days without another headline emerging about their record in government.

The SNP could be forgiven for hoping that the Scottish Government might escape scrutiny for the next month or so.

But with the Scottish Parliament still sitting until the end of June, the reality is that the SNP have nowhere to hide from the tidal wave of bad news heading their way.

Just last week, a leading UK cancer specialist highlighted the SNP's failure to keep cancer waiting times under control.

Recent figures revealed that barely 70 per cent of cancer patients begin receiving treatment with 62 days of their first referral.

Given that the Scottish Government's own target is for 95 per cent of patients to be seen within this timeframe, this shows how out of control these waiting lists are becoming.

Of course, these waiting lists were not helped by issues such as the pandemic, but the reality is that the SNP have been missing this same target since 2012.

This issue has been brewing for years, and the time has long since passed for the SNP to deliver a detailed workforce plan to bring these waits down.

However, their woes haven't just stopped there, as a recent report emerged exposing the Scottish Government's apparent squandering of £450million of EU funding.

Each part of the UK has been tasked with spending their final instalment of EU structural and investment funding, which should be spent on schemes to tackle poverty, boost employment, and support small and medium-sized businesses across the country.

But through poor planning – and sheer incompetence – the SNP are due to hand 28 per cent of this funding straight back to the EU. By comparison, England will be handing back just 6 per cent of this funding, and Northern Ireland just 2 per cent.

Naturally, SNP spin doctors have been hard at work trying to explain away this issue, but to no avail. Their cobbled-together excuses have been as clear as mud, and the blame ultimately lies with them for letting this money go to waste.

Failure to use all of this much-needed funding is a huge waste, and it is something that the Scottish public will not forget in a hurry, especially with our public services in Scotland so desperately underfunded as they are.

It is clear that the announcement of a summer general election has changed the political mood across the country, however nothing has changed at all when it comes to the day-in, day-out scrutiny that the SNP Government must endure in the Scottish Parliament.

Whatever happens with the UK Government, the Scottish Government still has their own devolved job to do up here and as the last few weeks has shown, they have their work cut out for them.

Alongside my colleagues in parliament, I shall do all I can to continue holding the Scottish Government's feet to the fire and keep their eyes firmly trained on their own day job.