5 June 2024 – the Scottish and Welsh press releases

  • Scottish Liberal Democrats launch plans to end SNP’s sewage scandal
  • Rennie responds to SNP’s national education agency announcement
  • “Vaughan Gething must go” – Welsh Lib Dems react to no confidence result

Scottish Liberal Democrats launch plans to end SNP’s sewage scandal

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton and deputy leader Wendy Chamberlain have today said the SNP Government is “neck-deep in failure” as they launched their party’s plans to clamp down on sewage dumping in Scotland’s rivers during a campaign visit to the River Almond.

Research by the party shows that sewage was dumped in the River Almond for a total of 148 hours in 2023 alone. This figure could be much higher as only one part of the river is monitored for sewage overflows. Residents living near the Almond claim that the water has become discoloured, stating that “foaming and fungus” had appeared in its surface.

Across Scotland, there were more than 21,000 sewage dumps logged in 2023 alone, up from 19,676 in 2022. However, the problem is likely to be far worse because only a small fraction of sewage discharges are monitored.

Scottish Liberal Democrats have launched plans for a Clean Water Act that would see:

  • Scotland’s Victorian sewage network updated;
  • Every sewage dump monitored and published with binding targets for their reduction;
  • A blue flag system for Scotland’s rivers;
  • A complete ban on the release of sewage in protected areas such as bathing waters.

The proposals for Scotland are part of a UK-wide campaign by the Liberal Democrats to clean up waterways and get governments to take action.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

Sewage is being dumped into our waters 59 times a day but the SNP just don’t seem to care.

SNP ministers have become spin doctors for the government-owned water company and outdated standards. Bosses are taking home bumper bonuses while millions of litres of sewage gets dumped into our rivers, lochs and beaches.

All across the UK, Liberal Democrats are the only party who have a plan to get the sewage out of our rivers and off our beaches. We want a Clean Water Act for Scotland to update the sewage network, proper monitoring to find all the dumping and a complete ban on this filthy practice in protected areas such as bathing waters.

People are sick of governments neck-deep in failure who just can’t get the basics right. Every Scottish Liberal Democrat you elect will be a local champion focused on cleaning up the sewage scandal.

Rennie responds to SNP’s national education agency announcement

Responding to the SNP government’s announcement about the national education agency, Scottish Liberal Democrat Willie Rennie MSP said:

This looks more like tweaking than reforming Education Scotland.

The real test will be whether the national agency can be for teachers with their full engagement. This is essential to restore the position of Scottish education up the world rankings.

The even bigger question is what exactly the wider education reforms will look like. There are still no answers from the SNP.

“Vaughan Gething must go” – Welsh Lib Dems react to no confidence result

Today, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have called for the resignation of the First Minister Vaughan Gething following the result of the no confidence motion this afternoon.

The leader of the Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS voted in favour of the motion, which was passed by a margin of 29 votes for and 27 against.

Speaking after the result, the Mid and West Wales MS urged the First Minister to step down from office after “losing the mandate of the Senedd.”

The Welsh Lib Dems have also described any efforts from the First Minister to hold onto power as going “against the established norms of our parliamentary democracy.”

Commenting, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said:

The Senedd has spoken and now Vaughan Gething must go.

Any attempts of holding onto power would go against the established norms of our parliamentary democracy.

Without the mandate of the Senedd, the First Minister has no right to stay in office, Welsh democracy has had its say and now he must go.

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This entry was posted in News, Press releases, Scotland and Wales.
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2 Comments

  • Mary Fulton 6th Jun '24 - 7:39am

    Willie Rennie is right – the so-called educational agency reforms are nothing of the sort. The government claims that the Scottish Qualifications Authority is to be abolished and replaced by a new body called Qualifications Scotland, but then we find out that the chief executive of the SQA will become chief executive of QS and no SQA staff will lose their jobs. Looks like a rebrand and a relaunch rather than an abolition and replacement.

  • The efforts of Mr Cole-Hamilton to focus on the inadequacies of sewage disposal in Scotland are praiseworthy, but it would strengthen his case enormously if a clear figure could be put on the cost of replacing and repairing a century old system which is clearly now showing its age.

    One advantage Scottish Water has over its privatised counterparts in England is that it is not paying out huge bonuses and dividends to shareholders.

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