Housing Cuts Criticised

Following on from the recent budget statement from the SNP Government, the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats have cited the housing sector as one of "Swinney's budget losers."

In the Scottish equivalent of the UK chancellor’s annual budget speech, finance secretary John Swinney explained how the Scottish government will try to boost the economy by switching resources from current expenditure to capital spending.

Mr Swinney revealed how the SNP government will allocate the revenue it receives from London and stated: "Our decisions have been focused on supporting recovery in the face of Westminster cuts. This spending review contains tough choices because of the cuts from Westminster that go too far, too fast."


Labour Party and Liberal Democrats also criticised cuts to enterprise, rural, legal aid and further education."

MSP Scottish Labour shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Richard Baker said: "For a government that is meant to be keen on economic recovery there are some savage cuts that will not help that cause."

Scottish Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson Jim Hume MSP added: "While we welcomed the announcement that SNP committed to building 30,000 affordable homes over the course of the Parliamentary term, this latest news will make reaching that target much more difficult.

"This news will be a blow to the hundreds of people languishing on housing waiting lists in Scotland. The Scottish Government needs to be clear on how they expect to meet their targets with this cut.

"The Government also has some serious questions to answer on whether it will be Local Authorities who will have to shoulder the added financial burden that this budget cut will create."

(JG/GK)