Meeting of the Parliament 02 October 2024
Absolutely. That is why we have to reset the relationship with the European Union and fix the mess that is Brexit, which was left by the previous Tory Government. However, that does not explain why we have had 17 years of failure and levels of home building that are the lowest since Margaret Thatcher.
I will go back to what I was saying about the social sector. The social sector built 5,053 homes in the year ending June 2024, which is down 25 per cent on the previous year. The number of completions for all sectors was the lowest since June 2018 and the number of starts was the lowest since June 2013, in both the social and the private sectors.
Under the SNP Government, housing association new-build numbers are at the lowest levels since Margaret Thatcher, and the Government is miles off track from meeting its own affordable house building target. Under the SNP Government, fewer homes are being built, targets are being missed on a yearly basis and homelessness is on the rise. Every number is a human being in need of help and every missed target is the breaking of dreams, hopes and aspirations. However, when the full extent of the housing and homelessness crisis in Scotland was revealed, housing minister Paul McLennan told STV News that the SNP Government has “a good track record” on preventing homelessness. Really? Is that the best that we can do? Frankly, that response was inept and shameful.
Yesterday, Mr McLennan stated that the SNP Government was pulling out all the stops on the issue—that is the same SNP Government that cut £196 million from the housing budget, cheered on by every member on the SNP benches. It is simply wrong for him to attempt to spin that away or, as per usual, not think about the human cost of the SNP’s decisions. Fellow Scots are sleeping rough with nowhere to go—some families in housing and more in hostels and B and Bs—but that is symptomatic of an SNP Government that is completely out of touch with reality. This is a Government that never faces up to its own record and instead tries to deflect blame on to others.
When Scotland is revealed to be in a housing and homelessness emergency, the minister says that Government has “a good track record”. When one in six Scots is revealed to be on national health service waiting lists and accident and emergency is revealed to be in disarray, the health secretary says that there is no crisis and that the Government has a good track record. When alcohol and drug deaths are on the rise, what does the minister say? Nothing to see here—the Government has a good track record and the plan is working. When our education system was plunged into chaos and Scotland slid down the international league tables, what did the minister say? Scotland’s education system was never that good anyway, the SNP Government has a good track record and its plan is working.
Scotland deserves so much better than this out-of-touch SNP Government that is failing Scotland day after day after day. Frankly, its ministers are embarrassing, its performance is inept and the Government’s record is nothing but shameful and woeful. From housing to the economy, from the NHS to our schools, this SNP Government is taking Scotland in the wrong direction. Housing is entirely devolved.