LABOUR MSP RHODA GRANT: ‘The SNP blame others for their budget cuts but this is well-rehearsed and reheated rhetoric’
The Scottish Parliament resumed this month after summer recess. During this period, I was able to meet with local authorities, community groups, as well as a wide range of organisations across the Highlands to understand what issues are affecting local communities, to get a better understanding of the challenges and what actions should be prioritised.
A common theme that kept coming up was available and affordable housing. It is clear there is a rural housing shortage, with a dire need for new homes to be built.
Vacancies within the NHS cannot be filled because of a lack of accommodation for successful candidates. Our economic development depends on good quality, affordable housing.
Depopulation of rural communities is directly linked to this. It is incredulous then that the Scottish Government have not prioritised areas like the Highlands in their rural house building.
According to data researched by my office, since 2017, the Scottish Government have built 3,219 rural affordable homes in the Highlands and Islands, including Moray.
However, nationally, they have built 8,989 "rural" homes in that time, where they have defined rural housing as developments built by the Edinburgh bypass, Aberdeen City bypass and in commuter towns outside Edinburgh and Glasgow.
I will urge the SNP to look at how they define rural areas for housebuilding to ensure that rural housebuilding does not mean prioritising the outskirts of Edinburgh over the Highlands.
Earlier this month, the SNP announced their pre-budget fiscal update which has cuts amounting to half a billion pounds. This is an in-year budget review.
By law, the Scottish Government must balance the books every year, and to do so they have had to cut funding across the board to plug the £500 million blackhole in their budget.
This is the third year in a row that the SNP have announced emergency budget measures. Failure to anticipate these spending revisions, and continually mismanaging the funds coming from the UK government demonstrates financial incompetence.
The SNP blame others for their budget cuts but this is well-rehearsed and reheated rhetoric. The SNP need to take ownership of their mishandling of the finances and have proven they cannot be trusted with taxpayers’ money.
The newly announced Programme for Government includes plans to legislate on land reform and crofting amongst other areas. I will be pushing to make this legislation as impactful as possible, with positive changes for rural communities.
Disappointingly, the SNP made no commitment to bring forward legislation on Human Rights, so I will be pushing forward with my Right to Food Bill to ensure that there is a legal commitment to tackle food poverty.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind hill farmers and crofters that the upland sheep support scheme is now open until the end of November.
Details on how to apply and eligibility can be found online under the Rural Payments and Services section on the Scottish Government website. To finish, there is also a patient survey available to complete on the NHS Highland website.
This is to better inform the roll out of vital vaccination services across communities as we move into autumn and winter. The survey can be accessed here.
