• Cole-Hamilton responds to Scottish Conservative leadership news
• Council opposition “must be final nail in coffin” for care service takeover

Cole-Hamilton responds to Scottish Conservative leadership news

Responding to the election of Russell Findlay as Scottish Conservative leader, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

I’d like to congratulate Russell Findlay on being elected as Scottish Conservative leader. It’s going to be a hospital pass because his is a party in decline. He will also find it hard to escape his record of cheering on Liz Truss.

There will also be voters out there who were persuaded by Ruth Davidson but who barely recognise the Conservative Party today.

Scottish Liberal Democrats won more seats than the Scottish Conservatives at the last election, and just last night we scored an amazing and unexpected by-election victory in their heartlands of rural Perthshire. In huge swathes of Scotland, we’ve shown that we’re best placed to beat the SNP. Only we have a plan to bring down NHS waiting lists, get a fair deal for carers, help struggling pensioners, lift up Scottish education and grow our economy.

Council opposition “must be final nail in coffin” for care service takeover

Responding to the news that COSLA has voted to withdraw support for the SNP’s ministerial takeover of social care services, Scottish Liberal Democrat Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

This must be the final nail in the coffin for this ill-fated power grab. It would wrench away control from local communities and completely fail to tackle the core problems in social care.

Waiting for the wrong solution in 2029 isn’t going to fix the care crisis that thousands of families are struggling with right now. It’s why councils have followed frontline workers in withdrawing their support.

My party is the only one to have opposed this legislation from day one. With purse strings tight it is madness to continue with a billion-pound bureaucracy that no one wants. Ministers must scrap it immediately and instead use the earmarked money to invest in frontline staff and services.