Tag Archives: paul mcgarry

Mark Valladares

30 November – 1 December – the weekend’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Sun 1st December 2024 - 10:30 pm
  • Pat McFadden: government’s targets will be meaningless unless they reverse disastrous mistakes
  • Scot Lib Dems reveal 27,954 empty homes across Scotland
  • Key mental health targets breached for 168,000 people

Pat McFadden: government’s targets will be meaningless unless they reverse disastrous mistakes

Responding to Pat McFadden on the Laura Kuenssberg show on the government’s plan for change, Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said:

The government’s targets will be utterly meaningless unless they reverse the disastrous mistakes made so far.

Scrapping the Winter Fuel Payment will force vulnerable pensioners to choose between heating and eating and their family farm tax risks a lost generation of farmers.

Ministers must swallow their pride, recognise the damage that these proposals will do and scrap the family farm tax and reinstate Winter Fuel Payments.

Scot Lib Dems reveal 27,954 empty homes across Scotland

Scottish Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson Paul McGarry has today accused the SNP of a “massive failure” to tackle the housing crisis after new research by his party uncovered that almost 28,000 homes are lying empty across Scotland.

A freedom of information request submitted by Scottish Liberal Democrats asked all 32 of Scotland’s local councils how many homes were classed as long-term vacant, meaning they have been empty for longer than 6 months.

The request found that:

  • Across the 30 councils with data on how many homes are long-term vacant, there are 27,954 long-term vacant properties.
  • There are 3,093 long-term vacant homes in Edinburgh, 2,929 in Aberdeenshire, 2,801 in Glasgow and 2,584 in Argyll & Bute.
  • Of the councils with data for how long they had been vacant, 1,420 had been vacant for longer than a year, while 2,609 had been vacant for more than 5 years and 5,937 more than 10 years.
  • In 2023/24, only 579 properties were brought back into use in Glasgow- just 20% of the number of long-term vacant homes.
  • In 2023/24, just 71 properties were brought back into use in Dumfries & Galloway, despite the number of long-term vacant properties being 1,211.
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Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged , , , and | 4 Comments
Caron Lindsay

New ideas at Scottish Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 20th November 2024 - 8:28 am

Scottish Conference took place in Perth on Saturday. The 300 year old Salutation Inn near the river has been putting up weary travellers for over 300 years and has been holding Lib Dem events for just about as long. I don’t think the decor has changed in all the time I’ve been going there since we moved back to Scotland in 2000 so it’s a wee bit dated but it serves decent pub food and the staff can’t do enough to help you. And the big win for me is that they make the toast for you at breakfast. You don’t have to stand for ages and watch helplessly as the slow moving toast machine burns your bread.

I shall cover the controversial debates – and there were a couple where we disagreed really well with excellent speeches – in another post, but I wanted to tell you about an innovation or two.

You know how quite often we get motherhood and apple pie motions which state the obvious Lib Dem position on an issue and nobody is ever going to vote against? Rather than give them half an hour’s debate, they have a party spokesperson present them in a report, speak for five minutes or so about the ideas and then have Conference vote. Housing spokesperson Paul McGarry, also the Conference Convener, was the first to trial this. His policy proposals were:

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Mark Valladares

11 November 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 11th November 2024 - 11:10 pm
  • Almost 1 in 6 calls in NHS 24 go unanswered
  • Martin stretching climate credibility with watering down comments
  • Planning applications fall across almost every category

Almost 1 in 6 calls in NHS 24 go unanswered

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today said that every corner of our NHS is suffering under SNP mismanagement as he revealed that almost 1 in 6 calls to NHS 24 went unanswered last year.

A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request revealed that in 2023/24, 16.5% of calls to the NHS 24-111 service went unanswered.

The freedom of information request also shows that in 2023/24, the longest wait for a call to be answered was more than 3 hours in January 2024. The average wait for a call to be answered was almost 28 minutes in March 2024.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

As these figures show, too many calls are going unanswered and people are facing very long waits before they get through to someone who can help.

Under the SNP’s mismanagement, this is another part of our NHS that is crying out for help. From excruciating waits at A&E to record numbers of people stuck in hospital, patients are suffering and staff are beyond breaking point.

Scottish Liberal Democrats want a complete overhaul of the SNP’s failed NHS recovery plan. We need a new plan that will tackle burnout among staff and address core problems, such as the crises in mental health and social care. That’s how we can ease pressures across the rest of the health service and get everyone the care they desperately deserve.

Martin stretching climate credibility with watering down comments

Responding to Scotland’s Net Zero Secretary, Gillian Martin, telling the BBC that the SNP government haven’t been ‘watering down’ their climate targets, despite choosing to scrap key emissions goals just weeks ago, Scottish Liberal Democrat climate crisis spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP said:

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Mark Valladares

24 September 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 24th September 2024 - 11:50 pm
  • Winter Fuel Payments: Hundreds of thousands more pensioners set to lose out
  • NHS Scotland Stop Smoking Services fall short of target
  • Cole-Hamilton challenges Health Secretary to tackle cancer crisis
  • Worst ever homelessness figures on the SNP’s watch
  • Jardine responds to GB Energy Aberdeen announcement
  • Cole-Hamilton demands action on Highlands care home closures
  • Just 3.2% of acid attacks in London have resulted in charge this year

Winter Fuel Payments: Hundreds of thousands more pensioners set to lose out

Responding to the latest Winter Fuel Payment statistics showing that there was a 214,000 increase in the number of recipients of the payments in the winter of 2023/24 compared to the previous year, Liberal Democrat Work and Pensions spokesperson Steve Darling MP said:

Hundreds of thousands more pensioners are now set to lose out on these desperately needed payments that protect so many from having to choose between heating and eating.

Cutting these payments for pensioners, which include millions who are just scraping by and are now worried about how they will get through the winter, is totally wrong.

It is not too late for this new government to change course and Liberal Democrat MPs will push them every step of the way to reverse these cuts and protect vulnerable pensioners this winter.

NHS Scotland Stop Smoking Services fall short of target

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has warned that efforts to deliver a smoke-free Scotland are falling short as new figures released today showed that NHS Scotland Stop Smoking services only achieved 74% of their target for helping people to stop smoking.

The new figures also reveal that only Western Isles and Dumfries & Galloway met their yearly targets. NHS Shetland and NHS Borders achieved less than 50% of their yearly targets, with Lothian, Lanarkshire and fife also performing poorly.

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Mark Valladares

26 March 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 26th March 2024 - 11:00 pm
  • No progress on A&E after a year of Humza Yousaf as FM
  • Rennie responds to David Tydeman sacking
  • Scottish Liberal Democrats respond to housing figures

No progress on A&E after a year of Humza Yousaf as FM

Responding to new figures showing only 62.9% of people attending A&E were seen within the 4 hour target in the week ending 17th March, just as bad as when Humza Yousaf became First Minister, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

Waiting times in A&E are just as bad as they were a year ago when Humza Yousaf moved from being Health Secretary to First

…

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Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged , , and | 3 Comments
The Voice

Paul McGarry talks of his “chaotic” youth in debate on support for care leavers #ldconf

By The Voice | Sat 18th September 2021 - 1:31 pm

Earlier today, Conference passed a motion calling for better support for care leavers up until the age of 25.

During the debate, Scottish Lib Dem Housing spokesperson Paul McGarry talked about why the measures outlined in the motion were so important and would have helped him. He describes the terrifying experience of being homeless at 16 after a “chaotic” childhood.

He has kindly sent us his speech so that readers can understand the reality our young people have to go through.

Conference I am one of a small group within our party with a lived experience and today I want to speak specifically about my experience, and how it relates to the importance of resolution 4.

Too many children are experiencing turmoil in their day-to-day existence, dealing with parents who have addictions, their parents broken relations, physical, emotional and sexual abuse within the home.

My own experience was a childhood that was disrupted and chaotic and a constant fear that we might be taken into care. We received support and my mum received support, we had neighbours and people in the community helping us, in fact my first contact with the Lib Dems was when we stayed with a Lib Dem MP and his wife, when my mum was particularly unwell.

Life was chaotic but I mostly was not permanently in the care system though my brother was.

This came to a head and at 16 I was homeless, homeless and terrified.

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Caron Lindsay

Key dates for Scottish Autumn Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 23rd June 2021 - 3:29 pm

Yesterday Scottish Conference Convener Paul McGarry announced in an email to members that our online Autumn conference will take place online on 8th and 9th October.

So the key deadlines are:

Drafting advice: 16th July at noon

Constitutional amendments: 16th July at noon

Motions deadline: 12th August at noon

You can get your ticket here. And the first timer rate for Scottish members is but a mere pound.

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