• Highest number of 8 hour waits at A&E in 2025
• Scot Lib Dems call for action on Alzheimer’s and dementia
• Rennie: Scottish education deserves better than third decade of SNP
• Government must set out support for workers at Mossmorran
• McArthur: Prison crisis shows every sign of getting worse
• Rennie: Housing Secretary has some nerve as heating bill dropped

Highest number of 8 hour waits at A&E in 2025

Responding to new figures showing only 61.5% of people attending A&E were seen within the 4 hour target in the week ending 9th November 2025 (11,020 waited more than 4 hours, the highest in 2025), while 4,532 people waited over 8 hours (the highest in 2025) and 2,181 waited over 12 hours, Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

Under the SNP it feels like every week at A&E is breaking a some kind of record for long waits. We are now seeing the highest number of people waiting over 8 hours of the entire year.

With the cold snap of the last few days we can be under no misapprehension that winter has now arrived, yet the SNP have squandered the months it had to prepare and left our A&E departments in a perilous state.

The Scottish Government needs to start taking serious action to support the staff facing these pressure cooker conditions. Scotland’s A&E patients deserve better – and with the Scottish Liberal Democrats, you can vote for change with fairness at its heart.

Scot Lib Dems call for action on Alzheimer’s and dementia

Scottish Liberal Democrats have today called for the Scottish Government to make sure people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias don’t fall through the cracks as new figures confirmed that they now account for around one in 10 of all deaths.

New figures published today by the National Records of Scotland show:

• There were 6,612 deaths caused by Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias registered in Scotland in 2024. This is one of the leading causes of death in Scotland, accounting for around one in 10 of all deaths.

• After adjusting for age, there were 122 deaths caused by Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias per 100,000 people in Scotland in 2024. This rate has almost doubled over the last two decades.

• Almost two-thirds (64%) of deaths caused by Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias were females and 36% were males.

Delegates at the Scottish Liberal Democrat autumn conference recently backed a motion calling for the Scottish Government to urgently establish minimum national care standards and entitlements for Scots with dementia.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

Too many people with dementia feel as if they are a burden. They have been badly let down by this Scottish Government.

One of the major flaws in the SNP’s care plans was the desire to see services run by ministers in Edinburgh.

We don’t want to repeat that mistake. However, what we can do is set out minimum standards and entitlements for care so that people can live with dignity and not feel left behind.

Liberal Democrats believe in giving people more control over their own lives and health so that everyone gets the care they need, when they need it and where they need it. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias must not be allowed to fall through the cracks.

Scotland deserves better. And with the Scottish Liberal Democrats, you can vote for it.

Rennie: Scottish education deserves better than third decade of SNP

Responding to new official Scottish Government statistics showing people’s satisfaction with schools is at an all-time low, Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Willie Rennie MSP said:

Scottish education just isn’t what it used to be. We used to have one of the best education systems in the world. but under the SNP it is now just average.

Children with additional support needs aren’t having their needs met, too many pupils are frequently absent, and schools are more violent than ever before.

Pupils, parents and teachers deserve better than a third decade of the SNP.

Scottish Liberal Democrats have a realistic plan to get things done, getting Scottish education back to its best, expanding pupil support in every school and giving every child the best start in life.

At next May’s election, wherever you are, you can vote for change with fairness at its heart by backing the Scottish Liberal Democrats on the second peach ballot.

Government must set out support for workers at Mossmorran

Responding to the news that ExxonMobil is to close its Mossmorran plastics plant in Scotland, which could affect up to 180 ExxonMobil staff, 200 contractors, and around 50 other workers, North East Fife MSP Willie Rennie said:

This will be a huge blow for workers at the plant and across the wider supply chain.

It seems like there is lots of talk about a just transition but the governments always end up announcing closures and playing catch up.

This is a valuable industrial site with a local workforce who are equally valuable so we need a new plan for the use of the site.

McArthur: Prison crisis shows every sign of getting worse

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur has today warned that the Scottish prison crisis is far from over as new figures revealed that the average daily prison population increased 4.5% last year.

New figures from the Scottish Prison Service reveal:

• The average daily prison population (ADP) in 2024-25 was 8,216 – an increase of 4.5% from 2023-24 (7,860) and is the highest ADP recorded.
• Between 2023-24 and 2024-25, the largest increase in the average daily sentenced population was those serving sentences for Sexual crimes (+14% to 1,614 in 2024-25).
• Together with the population serving sentences for non-sexual Crimes of Violence (+2% to 2,848 in 2024-25), these two groups account for a growing proportion of the overall average daily sentenced population (over 70% in 2024-25).
• The overall average daily remand population remained stable between 2023-24 and 2024-25, at 1,797 (+1).
• The average daily population of young people (under 21 years) remained stable in 2024-25, increasing by less than 1% from the previous year.
• Median time on remand before departure remained at around 22 days in 2024-25, the longest periods spent on remand had been increasing over time, with a sharp increase during 2020-21. Time on remand peaked in 2022-23, with the longest 10% of stays before departure from remand taking 146 days or more. By 2024-25, the longest 10% of stays took 87 days or more – a falling trend but still substantially longer than pre-pandemic.

Mr McArthur said:

These figures show Scottish prisons are full to bursting. Despite the emergency release of prisoners by Scottish Ministers the prison crisis shows every sign of getting worse.

When prisons are overflowing, it is harder for staff to maintain order and harder to steer prisoners away from future reoffending.

More than 1 in 5 of those being held in prison have not yet been convicted.

Robust community-based measures are a key part of the solution to prison overcrowding. They can ease pressure on the system and ensure people get a credible alternative to prison time. The Scottish Government must do more to improve enforcement of these orders.

Scottish Liberal Democrats want to see a modern prison estate that strikes the correct balance between punishing, rehabilitating and reducing reoffending. To achieve that, the government must get serious about clearing court backlogs, giving staff the resources they need and driving down the use of remand.

Rennie: Housing Secretary has some nerve as heating bill dropped

Responding to Cabinet Secretary Mairi McAllan’s decision to drop her government’s long overdue heat in buildings legislation, outlined in their Heat in Buildings Strategy, which was published on 7th October 2021, Willie Rennie MSP said:

The Cabinet Secretary has got a nerve to stand here today and claim leadership on the climate when she is delaying the very bill that is supposed to be tackling this.

She boasts that she has taken action on thousands of homes when in fact we’ve got millions of homes in Scotland. It is truly a drop in the ocean.

When will the minister stop blaming everyone else and accept responsibility herself for this humiliating climbdown?