Waiting Lists at FMQs

Well well...

Just when it seemed like Nicol Stephen may have shed his robot-like performance and actually landed a punch on the First Minister for, well, the first time ever, he goes and shoots himself in the foot.

It appears that the Lib Dems leader has fibbed again. You see, he raised, quite legitimately the case of a woman who had been removed from a waiting list to reduce the numbers on the lists.

But what he omitted to mention - and removed from the letter when released to the press - was the date of the letter. This date was the 21st of December which, as my good friend Scottish Tory Boy points out is BEFORE the SNP began to enforce the waiting list targets they've put in place to improve waiting times.

Thus, this patient's removal from the list was not as a result of the SNP's policy, but of the policy of the previous administration - the previous Labour & Lib Dem executive.

Now I'm sure the Lib Dem leader didn't mean to "intentionally" mislead Parliament by blaming the First Minister for something that he was partly responsible for. But he remains culpable for his actions.