Meeting of the Parliament 27 January 2016
Either you sign up to the targets and claim credit, as you constantly do, for the work that you are doing, or not at all. I expected better from Mr Don than the pathetic excuses that we are hearing from the SNP today.
The amendment from the Scottish Government, which is trying to excuse any responsibility or culpability, is one of the most feeble and apologetic that we have ever witnessed. Yet again, it is all either the UK Government’s fault or the power companies’ fault; it is “nothing to do with us, guv. We’ve done all we could.” I point out to Mr Don, however, that we discovered—it was sneaked out in the budget, in fact—that the SNP is not doing all it could. Far from it. As Alan Ferguson, chair of the Existing Homes Alliance, said:
“Just a day after we learnt that there has been no progress in reducing the 35 per cent of Scottish households living in fuel poverty, the draft budget for ending cold homes is less than was available this year.”
We unearthed that fact, despite the Scottish Government trying to cover its tracks by comparing two sets of draft figures rather than using the final, or outturn, figures for the year. The SNP published figures that suggested an increase in the fuel poverty budget of £14 million. However, as the Scottish Parliament information centre—the Parliament’s own entirely independent researchers—revealed, using the final budget figures, the truth is that Scotland faces a reduction of around £15 million in that budget.
Those in the sector who have to deal with the day-to-day problems that are caused by inadequate housing have not been fooled by the SNP’s inadequate response.