• NHS Budget announcement: “deafening silence” on social care cannot continue
• Starmer speech: burden of fixing Conservative mess must not fall on families and small businesses
• Lib Dems: Labour’s bus tax will hit communities
• Jardine: UK Budget must help fix the NHS and care
• Rennie responds to bizarre Findlay speech

NHS Budget announcement: “deafening silence” on social care cannot continue

Responding to the government’s announcement that there are funding plans to deliver two million extra NHS appointments, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said:

The new funding is of course welcome but the deafening silence on social care cannot be allowed to continue.

Patients have faced the crushing consequences of sky-high waiting lists after years of the Conservatives’ shameful neglect of our NHS and care services.

Thousands of people well enough to be discharged are stuck in hospital beds, unable to leave because the social care simply doesn’t exist, meaning others cannot get the care they need.

Until the government gets a grip of social care, hospitals will remain overwhelmed and patients will pay the price.

Starmer speech: burden of fixing Conservative mess must not fall on families and small businesses

Responding to Keir Starmer’s speech in which he said that he will ‘embrace the harsh light of fiscal reality’, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

The previous Conservative government unquestionably left our economy in tatters and wrecked our NHS. Yet the new government cannot allow the burden of fixing this mess to fall on families and small businesses already suffering from past Conservative tax rises.

To fix our NHS and public services and heal our economy, the Prime Minister should look to the big banks, big tech companies and the oil and gas giants to raise the money needed. Anything else would be letting down so many who’ve already suffered so much.

Lib Dems: Labour’s bus tax will hit communities

Responding to Keir Starmer’s Q&A in which he announced the £2 bus fare cap will be increasing to £3, Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson Tim Farron MP said:

Keir Starmer’s hike in the bus fare cap is without a doubt a bus tax.

While this new Government has been left to make difficult choices, they cannot allow the burden of fixing the Conservatives’ mess to be on people and small businesses across the country.

The fundamental issue is that neither Labour nor the Conservatives before them seemed to understand is that for rural communities, it doesn’t matter if the cap is £2 or £3 if they don’t have a bus service in the first place.

Bus routes are the backbone of economic activity in communities across our country – if the Government is serious about growth then it would invest in services which will boost our struggling town centres and high streets.

Jardine: UK Budget must help fix the NHS and care

Speaking ahead of the UK Budget on Wednesday, Liberal Democrat Scottish affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine MP said:

Making the NHS and social care a top priority in the UK Budget could help fix the crisis at the front door and the back door of the NHS.

Hundreds of thousands of people are locked out of work by physical and mental ill health. By repairing the crisis in social care and getting everyone faster access to care we can cut waiting lists, help people get on in life and kickstart the economy.

People are waiting an age but the SNP have poured cold water on essential NHS projects all across Scotland, from the Edinburgh Eye Pavilion to the Belford hospital. The efforts of staff to tackle the treatment backlogs are being held back by the SNP’s mismanagement of the public finances.

The Chancellor must invest any extra borrowing wisely including paving the way for productive investment in Scotland’s crumbling NHS buildings and the local fast-access health facilities our communities need.

Rennie responds to bizarre Findlay speech

Responding to Russell Findlay’s speech today, Willie Rennie MSP said:

It’s absolutely bizarre for Russell Findlay to deliver a speech about a lack of trust in politicians without acknowledging the central role that his own party has played in degrading politics.

In Scotland, the Conservatives have wallowed in the mud, squabbling with the nationalists and ignoring the day to day pressures that ordinary Scots have been facing.

Across the UK, Boris Johnson oversaw scandal after scandal and Liz Truss sent mortgage rates soaring while Conservative politicians like Russell Findlay cheered her on.

Scottish Liberal Democrats want to give Scotland a clean break from two parties who have let our country down by focusing on the issues that really matter like tackling long waits for healthcare.