Tag Archives: snp government

Mark Valladares

28 August 2026 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 28th August 2026 - 10:30 pm
  • Green responds to independence bill
  • Almost 500 repairs needed in Scottish police buildings
  • Cole-Hamilton responds to SNP’s first 100 days failure
  • Chamberlain responds to serial rapist police officer passing vetting checks

Green responds to independence bill

Responding to the Scottish Government publishing a draft referendum bill on independence, Scottish Liberal Democrat public service reform spokesperson David Green MSP said:

Yawn.

Almost 500 repairs needed in Scottish police buildings

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Yi-pei Chou Turvey MSP has today urged the SNP to “wake up” to the pressures facing the justice system, as she revealed that there are almost 500 repair works needed in police buildings across the country.

A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request to Police Scotland asked for the detail of repair works raised in condition surveys.

These surveys outline the physical state of police buildings and any work that requires attention.

The request found that:

  • There are 460 works requiring attention in 175 police buildings across Scotland.
  • 57 of these works related to fire safety.
  • 33 related to security, while 28 related to roofing.
  • Police stations in Glasgow have some of the highest number of repairs requiring attention, with 10 needed at the London Road Station, 10 at Meiklewood Road Complex and 8 at Govan Police Station.
  • The Scottish Police College in Tulliallan has 17 repairs requiring attention

The 2026 condition surveys estimated that these works would cost £20,671,609.

The request also found that an investment of £510 million is required to maintain and upgrade the police estate in line with modern policing needs.

In 2024, Police Scotland shut down its Forfar HQ due to concerns around the building’s structural safety, water ingress and potentially dangerous airborne yeasts and moulds. Lying empty ever since, there are now plans to sell the building, but there is no indication of when it will go on the market.

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Mark Valladares

11 June 2025 – today’s other press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 11th June 2025 - 11:45 pm
  • 10-Year rail funding reaction – Labour showing contempt to Wales
  • Greene criticises potential closure of Scottish bus builders
  • Rennie: Swapping around a few ministers won’t erase SNP failures

10-Year rail funding reaction – Labour showing contempt to Wales

Responding to Labour’s announcement that the £445 million they announced for rail funding this morning will, in fact, be spread out over 10 years, Welsh Liberal Democrat Westminster Spokesperson David Chadwick MP said:

Labour’s contempt for Wales just gets worse and worse.

The indefensible decision to spread this measly amount of rail funding over 10 years not only robs Wales of what it is owed for past projects, but also guarantees that we will continue to fall behind in infrastructure spending, as major transport projects in England get the green light.

Labour clearly has no interest in growing the Welsh economy or giving us the tools we need to thrive and attract investment into our country.

Greene criticises potential closure of Scottish bus builders

Scottish Liberal Democrat economy spokesperson Jamie Greene MSP has today said that the wheels are falling off the SNP’s economic strategy as it was announced that bus builder Alexander Dennis has launched a consultation on potentially closing its Falkirk and Larbert sites and moving all production to Scarborough, citing a lack of forthcoming work.

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The Voice

Jardine: People of Scotland want competent, effective Governments

By The Voice | Tue 16th May 2023 - 8:14 pm

It took less than the 14 minutes of Mhairi Black’s opening speech in the SNP Opposition Day debate on the cost of living crisis today for her to reveal what the debate was really about. Independence. I guess we should expect no better from a nationalist party, even one that has the power to do much more than it is doing to alleviate poverty and help those struggling at the moment.

Our Christine Jardine was there to keep them honest. In a blistering speech, she pointed out where both SNP and Conservatives were going wrong.

I have often stood here and criticised the Conservative Government, on their energy price hike; inflation; interest rates; and the situation that faces our young people throughout the UK, where too many of them live with the fear that they will never be able to own the house of their own that they would like or that the ever-increasing rent rates in this country, which in my city of Edinburgh are outrageous, put too many options beyond their reach. We must then consider the fact that the Chancellor did not listen when the Liberal Democrats asked him to cut energy bills by £500 per household, which would have made a significant difference to so many families; that the growth in the economy in the first three months of this year was only 0.1%; that, according to the Office for National Statistics, average pay, after taking inflation into account, fell by 3%; and that the take-home salary fell by more than £1,400.

I was delighted when I saw this motion, because our economy in the UK is on its knees and so are far too many families, and not just in Scotland. My disappointment is that SNP Members do not seem to appreciate that they in a unique position, of which I, like many other Members, are jealous, as their party can do something about it in Scotland. By that, I do not mean independence, which it turns out this debate is actually about after all.

She went on to highlight some of the SNP Govermment’s key shortcomings

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David McKenzie

Weaker for Scotland!

By David McKenzie | Tue 16th June 2020 - 1:00 pm

In 2015 while an election agent in my hometown of Inverclyde, I watched while Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP swept the board with one clear simple mantra: Stronger for Scotland. Five years on from that election and thirteen years into SNP government that’s simply untrue. The SNP have been weak, ineffective and downright scandalous in it’s handling of affairs in Scotland.

I’ve sat by and watched while Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Government receive praise from their supporters for it’s handling of the Coronavirus pandemic. The reality is it’s been an absolute disaster and this slopey shouldered, pass-the-buck attitude of ‘Well we did a bit better than the Tories’ is just simply not good enough.

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Caron Lindsay

Danny Alexander speaks out against fire control room closures

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 25th September 2013 - 1:30 pm

If you’ve followed Scottish politics over the last few years, one theme will be very clear. The SNP Government will centralise anything that sits still for more than 5 minutes. Nowhere is this more true than in the centralisation of the Police and fire services.

When Scotland’s eight Police services were merged into one, we were assured that local policing autonomy would be protected. After all, you wouldn’t use the same tactics in Avoch as you would in Aberdeen or Glasgow.

Earlier this year we saw heavy handed raids on saunas in Edinburgh, which had previously been treated with a degree …

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