• 9 in 10 new primary teachers don’t have full-time permanent work
• Cole-Hamilton: We will save small business from SNP rates wrecking ball
• Welsh Lib Dems urge Government to put small and local firms first in public contracts

9 in 10 new primary teachers don’t have full-time permanent work

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Willie Rennie MSP has today said that the SNP have “broken promise after promise to teachers and children”, as new figures show that 9 in 10 post-induction primary school teachers didn’t have full-time, permanent employment in 2025.

New figures show that between 2018/19 and 2024/25:

• The percentage of post-induction primary teachers in full-time, permanent employment dropped from 30.3% to 10.8%.
• The percentage of post-induction primary teachers in part-time, temporary employment has increased from 16.8% to 38.1%.
• The percentage of post-induction secondary teachers in full-time, permanent employment has fallen from 57.9% to 42.5%.
• The percentage of post-induction secondary teachers in part-time, temporary employment has increased from 2.9% to 5.3%.

Willie Rennie MSP said:

It is abysmal that 9 in 10 new primary school teachers can’t get full-time, permanent employment.

The SNP have broken promise after promise to teachers and children, with huge numbers of secondary and primary teachers now stuck on temporary contracts.

What a huge waste of talent when young people need good teachers more than ever, when their schooling was turned upside down by Covid and when far too many pupils with additional needs are not being properly supported.

I have met so many teachers who have been forced out of the profession because they can’t make ends meet and are tired of lurching between short-term work.

Scottish Liberal Democrats have got a realistic plan to give teachers proper, stable contracts, instead of short-term and zero hours work, so we can get Scottish education back to its best. You can vote for that by backing us on your second, peach-coloured, regional ballot paper in May.

Cole-Hamilton: We will save small business from SNP rates wrecking ball

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today used a visit to the Far From The Madding Crowd book shop in Linlithgow to set out how his party is standing in the way of the SNP’s business rates wrecking ball and to reveal a package of new measures to support high streets.

From today, new rateable values will be in place for all 260,000 rated non-domestic properties in Scotland.

Through budget negotiations, the Scottish Liberal Democrats secured £178m in additional rates relief for linchpins of the high street including pubs and restaurants – a move UKHospitality Scotland said “will help soften the blow”. But the party has warned that the system is broken and needs fixed.

In the Scottish Liberal Democrat manifesto the party will commit to:

• Reforming business rates and ensuring revaluations don’t produce unfair bills that condemn otherwise viable businesses.
• Improving public transport with more late night rail services to boost the nighttime economy and make a night out easier and more affordable.
• Immediately double the funding for the Retail Crime Taskforce meaning more areas will have more police officers, detectives and specialist analysts focused on offences such as shoplifting and its connections to organised crime – a move that could result in 4,000 more shoplifting charges and detections this year.

Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

Business is the beating heart of Scotland. But the SNP Government doesn’t get business and their track record proves they don’t care about it. Too many are going bust and high streets are struggling to survive.

Scottish Liberal Democrats stood in the way of the business rates wrecking ball and got £178m to help linchpins of the high street like pubs and restaurants. It’s a start, we absolutely need to go further, and it proves my party will roll up our sleeves and get things done.

We will create a competitive and fair business tax regime that supports growth and employment. We won’t let sudden steep rate hikes threaten the survival of successful businesses.

We want to make it easier and more affordable to have a night out by increasing late night rail services. And we’d double funding for the specialist Police Scotland unit going after shoplifters and the organised crime that can sit behind it.

If you want to get customers back to high streets that we can be proud of then in many constituencies we are on the verge of winning against the SNP but wherever you are, every vote for the Scottish Liberal Democrats on the second peach ballot paper will deliver change with fairness at its heart.

Welsh Lib Dems urge Government to put small and local firms first in public contracts

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds has today challenged the next Welsh Government to do more to support small businesses, after new figures revealed that less than half of public procurement spending goes to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), despite SMEs making up over 99% of all businesses in Wales.

Figures uncovered by Jane Dodds through a Written Question to the Welsh Government show that while £777 million was spent through public (Welsh Government) procurement in 2023/24, only £260 million of that went to SMEs. By contrast, more than £319 million was spent with large firms, and almost £198 million went to public sector or unidentified suppliers.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have pledged to put small and medium-sized Welsh businesses at the front of Government procurement contracts should they be in a position to influence the next Welsh Government.

The data also reveals a worrying fall in the proportion of spending that stays in Wales, dropping from 51% in 2023/24 to just 45% in 2024/25, meaning more public money is flowing out of Wales to suppliers based elsewhere.

Across the past five years, the proportion of Welsh Government spending going to SMEs has remained stubbornly below 40%, even though small and medium-sized firms dominate the Welsh economy and are major employers in every part of the country.

Commenting, Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds said:

These figures show that small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of our economy, yet they are being short-changed when it comes to government contracts.

At a time when local businesses are struggling with rising costs, energy prices, and red tape, the Welsh Government should be doing far more to ensure that public money supports jobs and growth here in Wales.

It’s deeply concerning to see the proportion of spending that stays in Wales fall so sharply this year. The Government talks about supporting Welsh businesses, but the figures tell a different story.

Small firms tell me they feel locked out of procurement opportunities and weighed down by bureaucracy. There’s huge potential for the Welsh Government to use its spending power to drive local prosperity, but too much of it still goes to large companies outside Wales.

If we want a thriving Welsh economy that rewards hard work, innovation, and community roots, we must put small businesses at the heart of government policy. The Welsh Liberal Democrats would make it easier for SMEs to compete, reform business rates, and create a fairer, simpler procurement system that works for local enterprises.