The Scottish Liberal Democrat leader yesterday accused the “illiberal, centralising, arrogant and increasingly incompetent” SNP Government of putting party before country for far too long.
Willie Rennie said Nicola Sturgeon would use “any excuse” to avoid talking about her administration’s domestic record – even the opinion of Sean Connery.
He added it is hard to keep up to date with her “latest manoeuvres”, and claimed each was a deliberate attempt to distract voters.
Addressing activists at the party’s conference in Bournemouth, he spoke of Police Scotland’s “shameful” failure to find a young couple – John Yuill and Lamara Bell – after their car crashed off the M9, despite a sighting reported via the 101 line.
“This shows more than any other single issue that there is something wrong at the heart of the SNP Government,” he added.
Blaming the decision to merge the country’s police forces into a single body, he went on: “They were warned. They should have known. They should be ashamed.”
The move to a single force in 2013 went ahead amid warnings about the vastly different challenges facing the various parts of the country and claims it would damage services.
Mr Rennie also used his speech to highlight the vital role of his depleted team of just five MSPs in opposing the SNP at the Scottish Parliament.
“There is no hyperbole in what I now say,” he told a packed hall.
“If it were not for the small team of determined Liberal Democrats in Holyrood, the SNP would go unchallenged on the police, on justice and on the protection of our civil liberties.
“The SNP are an illiberal, centralising, arrogant and increasingly incompetent government who have put their party before my country for far too long.”
He pointed to a shortage of GPs, “neglected” mental health services and falling standards in literacy and numeracy.
He added: “They took their eye off the ball to focus all their efforts on their independence referendum and they haven’t taken the decision to get back on top of the job they are paid for.
“The problems are mounting for people in Scotland who rely on anything the Scottish Government is supposed to be doing.
“The SNP want the lights to be turned off on scrutiny of their domestic record. We must not let them get away with it.”
The Lib Dems suffered huge losses in the 2011 Holyrood election, which saw the SNP win an unlikely majority.
Mr Rennie said next year’s ballot should be about the way the SNP is running things at home.