• Reform Journalist Ban: Lib Dems call for DCMS committee inquiry as Farage testifies in US on free speech
• Lib Dems slam Reform council as “bad Vance tribute band” and call on Farage to expel leader as local journalists banned until they ‘apologise’
• Rennie comments on embargoed housing report
• Cole-Hamilton: 85 drug deaths each month is a national tragedy
• Operations remain below pre-pandemic levels
• Cole-Hamilton: SNP have ripped up promises on delayed discharges
• Scotland needs world class mental health services as psychological therapies target missed again
• Nursing and midwifery vacancies rise by more than 50% in just 6 months

Reform Journalist Ban: Lib Dems call for DCMS committee inquiry as Farage testifies in US on free speech

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee to launch an inquiry into Reform UK banning its councillors in Nottinghamshire from speaking to local media, as Nigel Farage visits the US tomorrow to testify before Congress on free speech.

This comes after the Reform UK leader of Nottinghamshire County Council banned a local newspaper and local democracy reporters from speaking to him or any of his councillors, except for in ‘emergency’ situations.

Liberal Democrat Media, Culture and Sports Spokesperson Max Wilkinson will be writing to the DCMS committee chair to call on Nigel Farage to give evidence to the UK Parliament on why his councillors are being gagged from speaking to the media.

Liberal Democrat Media, Culture and Sports Spokesperson Max Wilkinson MP said:

It’s barmy that after six weeks away from Parliament, Nigel Farage is skipping the first days of the Autumn term to go jet-setting wearing his MAGA hat and waving his Trump pom-poms.

Instead of peddling myths to the US Congress about free speech in the UK, he should be giving evidence to our Parliament on why his own party is cracking down on free speech by gagging his Reform colleagues from speaking to the media.

He should focus on getting his own house in order before going on tour to badmouth Britain.

Lib Dems slam Reform council as “bad Vance tribute band” and call on Farage to expel leader as local journalists banned until they ‘apologise’

Responding to reporting that Reform council leader Mick Barton will keep local democracy reporters banned from reporting on the council until they ‘apologise’, Max Wilkinson MP, Liberal Democrat Culture, Media and Sport Spokesperson and former local journalist, said:

Reform’s gang of councillors are acting like a bad JD Vance tribute band.

Politicians demanding that those on the side of democracy grovel and apologise without reason — we saw and condemned that behaviour in Trump’s Oval Office. It’s horrendous to see it happening in Britain.

As a former local journalist I’m appalled to see Reform’s disregard for basic transparency.

Farage must step in and expel Barton from Reform immediately. He is not fit to grace public office.

Rennie comments on embargoed housing report

Commenting on the embargoed report commissioned by Shelter Scotland, CIH Scotland and SFHA into Scotland’s housing need, Scottish Liberal Democrat communities spokesperson Willie Rennie MSP said:

This report sets out the scale of the challenge we face in tackling the housing emergency. Through years of drift the SNP government deprioritised housing and stopped listening to the needs of the sector and of ordinary people who are desperate for a home.

Homelessness applications rose again last year and the number of households and children in temporary accommodation hit record highs. Concerningly the number of homeless households not even being offered temporary accommodation spiked to over seven thousand.

Slashing the affordable housing budget by the SNP and Greens was a grave mistake which Scottish Liberal Democrats reversed in this year’s budget. However we need to go further to build more homes, bring thousands of empty homes back into use and re-establish social rent as a valid, long-term option.

Cole-Hamilton: 85 drug deaths each month is a national tragedy

Responding to new figures showing that there were 1,017 drug deaths in Scotland in 2024, which brings the total number of deaths in the last decade to 10,884, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

It is a national tragedy that 85 people every month are dying in Scotland’s drug deaths emergency.

After the SNP slashed funding for drug services in 2015, even Nicola Sturgeon admitted her government had “taken its eye off the ball”.

My party is fighting hard to unpick that damage, which is why we made access to drug and alcohol services a major part of our budget negotiations earlier this year, securing support for a new facility for mothers and their babies born addicted to drugs.

From rolling out a nationwide network of safer consumption rooms to new drug checking facilities, Scottish Liberal Democrats would give our country the world-class drug services it deserves and stop people dying.

Operations remain below pre-pandemic levels

Responding to figures which reveal that the number of scheduled operations remains 13.3% below pre-pandemic levels, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

The SNP’s failure to get the NHS back on its feet is causing misery for staff and patients.

Countless SNP health secretaries have promised the earth for our NHS but delivered next to nothing.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats believe Scotland deserves better than this. That’s why we have a realistic plan to get things done: delivering first-rate health care so you can get your operation, or see your GP, dentist or mental health professional when you need them.

Cole-Hamilton: SNP have ripped up promises on delayed discharges

Responding to new Public Health Scotland figures showing nearly 2,000 people (1,948) were stuck in hospital at the July census due to their discharge being delayed, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

The SNP have ripped up their ten-year old promise that no one who was fit to leave hospital would be left stuck there.

By failing to provide the care people need at home or in the community, the SNP are keeping 2,000 patients waiting in hospital beds. That creates a shortage of beds for incoming patients and ramps up waits in emergency departments.

Our health and social care service deserves better than this. Only the Scottish Liberal Democrats have a realistic plan to get things done: create a new UK-wide minimum wage for care workers, £2 higher than the national minimum wage, to tackle the chronic staff shortages in care and make social care a profession of choice.

Scotland needs world class mental health services as psychological therapies target missed again

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today said Scotland desperately needs world class mental health services after new figures showed 4,385 children and young people and 23,746 adults waiting for treatment.

The Public Health Scotland data also shows:

• 4,385 children and young people and 23,746 adults were waiting for treatment at the quarter ending June 2025;
• Just 78.3% of adults were seen within 18 weeks of referral to psychological therapies, far below the target of 90%.
• 272 children and young people and 2,612 adults waiting more than a year to start treatment.
• Only 67.8% of referrals in the quarter ending June 2025 were accepted.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

Almost 30,000 children, young people and adults are waiting for mental health care. Yet for many it will be an entire year before they start treatment.

They are being let down and left languishing on waiting lists.

Scotland deserves better than this. It deserves world class mental health services.

Scottish Liberal Democrats are the party of mental health. We would fund more mental health support in schools, get more professionals close to where you live, and ramp up the training of new staff and mental health first aiders.

Nursing and midwifery vacancies rise by more than 50% in just 6 months

Responding to new NHS workforce statistics showing that there were 3,227 nursing and midwifery vacancies as at the quarter ending June 2025, which represents a 51.6% increase since December, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

This hugely troubling rise stems all the way back to Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP cutting training places and claiming that was ‘sensible’.

In the years that followed, staff have been run ragged. Exhausted and demoralised, they are struggling to provide the high-quality care patients need, and many are reaching for the door.

Scottish Liberal Democrats want better for our nurses and midwives so we can deliver first-rate healthcare to everyone. That’s why we have a realistic plan to tackle burnout and prioritise the recruitment and retention of hardworking staff.