Tag Archives: bruce wilson

Mark Valladares

1 October 2024 – yesterday’s press releases (part 2)

By Mark Valladares | Wed 2nd October 2024 - 11:45 pm
  • Veterans facing homelessness reaches five-year high
  • Record high levels of people stuck in hospital
  • August A&E waiting times the worst on record for the month
  • Operations activity still well down on pre-pandemic levels
  • Cole-Hamilton comments on NHS dental deregistration in Dumfries & Galloway

Veterans facing homelessness reaches five-year high

Commenting on the news that in 2023/24 there were 935 homeless applications which included veterans, the highest figure since 2018/19, Scottish Liberal Democrat Veterans Spokesperson Bruce Wilson said:

Our veterans have dedicated their lives to public service and duty, putting themselves in harm’s way to do so. The fact that so many of them face homelessness is an utter disgrace.

No meaningful action has been taken to improve the transition to civilian life for veterans. Instead, service members have relied heavily on the charitable sector, struggling for funding.

The SNP have taken an axe to the housing budget and slashed funding for councils. They’ve completely failed to build the thousands of homes promised for social rent.

Scottish Liberal Democrats would support our veterans, treating them with the dignity and respect they deserve. That’s why we would drastically improve the standard of Ministry of Defence housing and waive application fees for indefinite leave for members of the armed forces on discharge. We would build more homes, bring thousands of empty homes back into use and re-establish social rent as a valid, long-term option.

Record high levels of people stuck in hospital

Responding to new Public Health Scotland figures which showed 2,009 people were stuck in hospital in August 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:

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Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged , , , , , and | 1 Comment
Caron Lindsay

Scottish Lib Dem social justice spokesperson Bruce Wilson highlights childcare problems

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 23rd October 2021 - 12:30 pm

Former marine Bruce Wilson is the Scottish Lib Dems spokesperson for veterans and social justice. In this week’s Daily Record he wrote about the need for high quality childcare as a key element of a fairer society.

As the father of three children under 7, he and his wife know only too well the crippling costs of childcare:

While my eldest is in school and goes to after school club, there is no way for me and my wife to afford mortgage payments, bills and childcare for our twins, despite having decent salaries.

Nursery costs to cover full time work come to roughly £2,000 per month for both of them – a sum that is completely unachievable for most parents. Parents are often forced to leave the workforce.

And  it is most often women whose careers are adversely affected:

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 4 Comments
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