Rennie welcomes budget commitments

As a result of their negotiations, a number of the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ priorities will be included in the forthcoming budget. These include:

• Further investment in drugs and neonatal services totalling £2.6m, with a special focus on creating new services to help babies who are born addicted to drugs.
• £3.5m so that colleges can deliver the skills our economy and public services need, with new programmes focused on care and offshore wind to create a pipeline of skilled workers.
• £1m more for hospices.
• Focusing ScotWind revenues on growing the economy, creating jobs, tackling climate change, and driving forward reform.

Following the party’s discussions with the Scottish Government, the first draft of the budget also contained:The reinstatement of a winter heating payment for pensioners.

• Extra funding for social care.
• Additional funding for local healthcare to make it easier to see a GP or NHS dentist.
• Funding for new specialist support across the country for Long Covid, ME, Chronic Fatigue and other similar conditions.
• The right for family carers to earn more without having support withdrawn.
• Progress on business rates relief for the hospitality sector.
• Funding to build more affordable homes.Ringfenced agriculture funding.

Now the Scottish Government has committed to look much more closely at a number of infrastructure projects highlighted by Scottish Liberal Democrat MSPs, such as replacing Kilmaron Special School and building a railway station at Newburgh, in its forthcoming investment plans.

Mr Rennie said: “Scottish Liberal Democrats have engaged constructively in budget discussions and we have achieved a long list of measures which will directly benefit people in North East Fife and across the country.

"The draft budget contained many of the things which we had campaigned for, such as the reinstatement of a winter heating payment for pensioners, extra funding for social care, making it easier to see a GP or NHS dentist, progress on business rates relief for the hospitality sector, funding to build more affordable homes, ringfenced agriculture funding, and more money for additional support needs to help pupils and their teachers.

“Now we have pressed the government to go further and have won further changes. Particularly important is the recognition from ministers of vital infrastructure projects, including a replacement building for Kilmaron Special School, and a train station for Newburgh. These projects will now be looked at in detail in the government’s forthcoming investment plans.

“At times we are the biggest critics of the SNP and we continue to believe that Scotland needs a change of government. But sometimes to get things done for our constituents, we just need to sit down and talk. That’s what we’ve done and we have won many measures which will make a real difference to people’s lives.”