The parliamentary timetable has been dominated by the budget over the last few weeks with the stage one debate last Thursday seeing the budget approved with the SNP gaining the support of the Green MSPs. The deal that was on the table that the Greens took was to reduce the cuts to local councils. The […]
Private landlords have made more than £2billion in housing benefit in the last five years, new figures from Scottish Labour have revealed. Alex Rowley MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife highlighted that nearly £45 million alone last year was made by private landlords from housing benefit across Mid Scotland and Fife. On average, £1 […]
Alex Rowley MSP met with a group of people from Yemen on their visit to the Scottish Parliament, where he echoed their calls to raise awareness of the crisis unfolding in the middle east country. The Scottish Labour MSP has previously raised a motion in the Parliament to draw attention to the conflict taking […]
This week I spoke in a debate in the Scottish Parliament calling on the Government to re-set the target for addressing fuel poverty. I also highlighted the advances on energy efficient homes made by local councils and housing associations, and argued that action must be taken to introduce similar standards in the private rented […]
Last week in the Scottish Parliament we saw the difference in approach from the political parties to the funding of local public services. The SNP proposed changes to the upper bands for Council Tax. Whilst Scottish Labour did not oppose the proposal that would make the tax a little more progressive, we were very […]
New figures released today show the average private sector rent in Scotland has soared by 14 percent since 2010. This completely underlines the extent of the housing crisis we are facing here in Scotland and is why I have made repeated calls for a national house build plan to be undertaken, alongside planned local […]
Last week a group of campaigners came to the Scottish Parliament to raise awareness of the impact of sanctions on people who rely on social security because they have very low incomes. I agreed to meet with the campaigners and hear the issues they were raising. One of the campaigners used a tin of spray […]
Brexit is far too important to be left to the politicians! That was one view expressed by an attendee when I hosted my first “Brexit - what next?” public meeting this week. I thought they have a point and certainly it cannot be simply left to Theresa May and a few of her […]
I was very pleased that the work carried out between the National Executive Committee and the Scottish Executive Committee on autonomy for the Scottish Labour Party was approved by our national conference this week. Autonomy for Labour in Scotland is long overdue and will strengthen our ability to make decisions in Scotland, for Scotland […]
President John F Kennedy (© Harry Benson 1961) The Scottish Parliament is hosting a free exhibition of Glasgow-born photographer Harry Benson’s work from August to December this year. Benson arrived in America with the Beatles in 1964. This exhibition explores Benson’s fascination with the political and historical events that unfolded in America in the 1960s […]