• Ofwat fines: A game of catch up after Conservative Ministers turned a blind eye
• Cole-Hamilton: SNP must take action to avoid winter crisis at A&E
• Welsh Lib Dems call on new First Minister to “restore trust in Welsh Politics”
• Police office numbers are lowest on record
• Number of people stuck in hospital reaches new high
• Scot Lib Dems criticise SNP exam failings

Ofwat fines: A game of catch up after Conservative Ministers turned a blind eye

Responding to Ofwat imposing a £168m fine on Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water, Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson Tim Farron MP said:

After years of inaction and failure under the last Conservative government, it is welcome to see the regulator finally impose proper fines.

This should only be the start if these polluting firms are to clean up their act.

We now need a ban on bonuses and an end to bumper profits on the industry.

Sadly this is all a game of catch up after Conservative Ministers turned a blind eye to this environmental scandal.

Cole-Hamilton: SNP must take action to avoid winter crisis at A&E

Responding to new figures showing only 69% of people attending A&E were seen within the 4 hour target in June 2024, while 14,126 people waited over 8 hours and 5,936 waited over 12 hours, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

Normally in summer we would see an improving picture at A&E, but these waiting times are already very long, and moving in the wrong direction.

Under the SNP the NHS is teetering on the brink, staff are overwhelmed, and thousands are waiting far too long to be seen.

We need to see action from this SNP government to address long waits at A&E before we are staring down the barrel of a winter crisis.

Scottish Liberal Democrats would overhaul the SNP’s failed NHS Recovery Plan, get you fast access to GPs and help people leave hospital on time through a new minimum wage for care workers that is £2 higher.

Welsh Lib Dems call on new First Minister to “restore trust in Welsh Politics”

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have called on the new First Minister of Wales Eluned Morgan to rebuild trust in Welsh politics.

Welsh Lib Dem leader Jane Dodds MS has congratulated Eluned Morgan on becoming First Minister, stating that she was “delighted to see another woman leading the way in Welsh politics.”

However The Mid and West Wales MS, who abstained on the vote, has also called on the new FM to rebuild the trust lost in the Welsh Labour Government amongst both the Senedd and the Welsh public following recent events.

The Welsh Lib Dems have stated that they will be pushing the new Welsh government to ensure that everyone in Wales can easily access healthcare services when they need it, as well as calling for an expansion of the Welsh child care offer and highlighting issues affecting rural communities.

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

I would first like to congratulate Eluned Morgan on her successful nomination as the new First Minister of Wales. I am delighted to see another woman leading the way in Welsh politics.

It is now up to both Eluned and the Welsh Labour Government to re-earn the trust of both the Senedd and, most importantly, the people of Wales.

The last few months of Welsh Labour scandals and in-fighting has been an unhelpful distraction from resolving the challenges facing Wales.

Unfortunately, these recent events have undoubtedly undermined trust in Welsh politics.It’s time for the Welsh Government to realise that they must stop taking people for granted and start working to earn our trust.

I will be pushing the new Welsh government to ensure that everyone can get access to an NHS doctor, GP or dentist when and where they need one.

I will also be fighting to expand the Welsh childcare offer to support working parents, tackling child poverty, and addressing the concerns of rural communities.

We as the Welsh Liberal Democrats will also continue to call for a £10,000 cap on individual political donations, an important first step towards cleaning up our politics.

Police office numbers are lowest on record

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP has today urged SNP ministers to get serious over the funding challenges facing policing as new figures reveal that police officer numbers are now at their lowest level on record.

Figures published today show that:

There were 16,207 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers in Scotland on 30 June 2024

• This is down by 148 FTE officers (-0.9%) compared to the previous quarter, and a decrease of 392 (-2.4%) compared to June 2023

• This is also less than the previous benchmark, set in Q1 2008, of 6,222 officers

• This is the lowest that police strength numbers have been in the 17 years for which we have data

In November, the Scottish Police Federation stated that the service had been “asset stripped and basically used as a cash cow.”

Mr McArthur said:

There are no two ways about it, plummeting officer numbers put communities at greater risk.

Officers feel unsupported, overwhelmed and stretched dangerously thin. It is no surprise that so many are quitting.

If the civil unrest that we have seen in other parts of the UK spreads to Scotland, the thin blue line will look very thin indeed.

It is no wonder that policing bodies are warning of a public safety crisis. It’s time for the Scottish Government to listen and commit to resourcing the service properly.

Number of people stuck in hospital reaches new high

Responding to new Public Health Scotland figures which showed 1,991 were stuck in hospital in June due to their discharge being delayed, the highest number of people delayed since the guidelines were updated in 2016, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

Under SNP management, Scotland’s care services are in crisis and these figures show more people than ever are stuck in hospital unnecessarily. It’s worsening their health, contributing to record-breaking waits in A&E and leading to dangerous ambulance delays.

The SNP’s ill-fated centralisation of social care will do nothing to ease pressures- it must be scrapped.

Scottish Liberal Democrats would devote the money for this billion-pound bureaucracy to frontline services and staff instead. We want to see a £500m rescue package that will enable people to be released from hospital and relieve the pressure on the NHS. We would create a new 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 again.

Scot Lib Dems criticise SNP exam failings

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today congratulated pupils on their exam results but raised concerns over falling pass rates, the rising attainment gap and errors which have seen pupils receive blank emails in place of their grades.

• 77.2% of those sitting National 5 exams passed with grades A to C, down from 78.8% in 2023. The attainment gap between those from the most affluent and most deprived areas was 17.2%, the highest level ever.

• 74.9% of those sitting Highers passed with grades A to C, down from 77.1% last year in 2023. The attainment gap between those from the most affluent and most deprived areas was 17.1%, the widest since the new versions of qualifications were introduced.

• 75.3% of those sitting Advanced Highers students achieved A to C grades, down from 79.8% in 2023. The attainment gap increased from 11.5% in 2023 to 15.5% this year.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

First of all, I would like to congratulate everyone receiving their results today and commiserate with those who did not get the grades they wanted. There is no single correct path to take and there are great options out there no matter how well you did.

However, I am concerned to see the attainment gap rising. This was supposed to be the SNP’s defining mission, and one that Nicola Sturgeon specifically tasked John Swinney with overseeing but the gap between the richest and the poorest is widening.

It appears that nothing the SNP have done in government has worked.

When I speak with teachers they identify a series of roadblocks: behaviour, absence rates, lack of support for Additional Support for Learning and unmanageable workloads which has been allowed to flourish under the SNP.

My party has been consistently critical of the record of the SQA in supporting pupils and we remain concerned that the Scottish Government’s proposed education reforms will see the same leadership in charge making the same mistakes.

Responding to “technical issues” which saw some candidates who signed up to receive results by email reportedly receive blank emails, he added:

For many young people this will already be the most stressful day of their life so far. They could certainly do without false alarms and errors from the exam board.