By Bill Heaney
Launching the party’s manifesto ahead of the local government elections on 5 May, Scottish Liberal Democrats, who have candidates in Helensburgh, Lomond and Argyll but not in West Dunbartonshire, have set out plans that would see every household benefit from a Cost of Living Rescue Package that will provide new hope to everyone worried about the crisis.
They say that a Scottish Liberal Democrat Cost of Living Rescue Package would see:
- A VAT cut worth £600 to the average household
- A Robin Hood Tax on the energy companies making super profits from the cost of living crisis
- An emergency nationwide home insulation programme
- Doubling and expanding the Winter Fuel Payment and Warm Home Discount
- The reversal of the SNP/Green rail fare hike and introduction of railcard discounts for everyone to knock at least a third off fares
The party’s plans also include:
- Stopping the takeover of social care by the same SNP ministers who put covid-positive into care homes, instead moving immediately to strike a transformative pay deal for staff and establishing new national standards for care users.
- New health staff in every GP practice to boost early diagnosis and bring down waits for help across the country.
- The rollout of hundreds more counsellors in schools and ramping up of training so every workplace can get the benefit of a mental health first aider
- Long Covid clinics in every region and in-home nurse support for sufferers.
- A comprehensive new education recovery plan because parents and teachers are struggling to see any difference in what’s on offer in our schools
- Tackle the chronically poor condition of local roads to make them safer for walking, wheeling, cycling and driving.
- The protection of council budgets after repeated cuts at the hands of SNP/Green deals which have taken a toll on everything from schools to street cleaning.
At the launch Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, PICTURED RIGHT, said: “We’ve hardly managed to catch our breath from the pandemic before the cost of living crisis has people worried sick. After everything we’ve been through, Scotland needs new hope.
“Let’s lay aside talk of an independence referendum and get to grips with what matters right now.
“From the Downing Street parties during lockdown to the ferries farce, people feel taken for granted by the Tories and SNP. At the worst possible moment they are both hiking up taxes, from national insurance to your train fares and council tax. They are exposing households when they should be insulating them.
“Instead we need a cross-government Cost of Living Rescue Package. It means the reversal of those SNP-Tory tax hikes, a cut to VAT worth £600, an emergency nationwide insulation programme to cut energy bills and a Robin Hood Tax on the super profits of those energy companies making billions from this crisis.
“Scottish Liberal Democrat councillors and candidates are local champions. You see them all year round – not just at election time. We see the best in people and want the best for them. That’s what you get when you vote for the Scottish Liberal Democrats on 5 May.”