Chamber and committees

The A77 is a vital trade link between the central belt, Ayrshire and Northern Ireland, and the A70 could become a strategic link into the heart of Rabbie Burns’s homeland in Ayrshire. They are very important roads for local people, trade and tourism. The lack of good public transport links means that people rely on the A70 and the A77, but the roads are crumbling and they are a major safety concern, especially on dark winter nights. Will the Scottish National Party focus on improving those vital roads, or has its coalition deal with the Greens stopped any chance of extra investment in the roads in Ayrshire?

Will I get the time back, Presiding Officer?

I am sorry, I will not take the intervention.

The failure is the consequence of years of missing affordable homes targets and broken promises to build enough homes for the social rented sector. It is what happens when the SNP Government takes its eye off the ball, just as it did with Scotland’s drug death crisis. Those national tragedies are linked.

For all its talk of tackling poverty, the SNP Government has forgotten so many of Scotland’s most deprived communities and most vulnerable people. SNP ministers live in a Holyrood bubble that seems to ignore the reality of what happens in working-class communities across Scotland.

The First Minister grew up in Ayrshire, but she has not done anywhere near enough to help the people who still live there. Shelter Scotland has said that Nicola Sturgeon should spearhead a Scottish housing emergency action plan. She must listen.

However, action cannot stop at just another plan, strategy or national mission. The SNP Government needs to do more than get a few good headlines. A nice press release will not put a roof over anyone’s head. Public relations soundbites will not give people the homes that they deserve and need.

For once, the Government needs to commit to a clear target and actually deliver it. We need a realistic target, with a clear, well-funded, smart plan to deliver it. The plan must produce more homes, especially affordable homes and social housing. It must reduce the bureaucratic hurdles and the issues that people face when they try to build. It must slash the red tape that prevents empty business premises in some areas from becoming good-quality homes. It must produce a framework to bring long-term unoccupied properties back into use.

Most of all, the Government must support Miles Briggs’s motion and treat this dire situation as a housing emergency.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I would have abstained.

Let me make this clear from the outset of my speech: whatever words the SNP Government chooses to use to make the situation sound better than it is, Scotland is in a housing emergency, on its watch. Some 330,000 Scots, including nearly 100,000 children, are stuck on social housing waiting lists; there are almost 47,000 homeless people, nationally; and there are almost 14,000 households in temporary accommodation, according to Scottish Government figures.

Those numbers are so big that they are hard to comprehend, never mind tackle, but behind every one of those figures are real people. Those people include some of the most vulnerable in our society, such as hundreds of veterans and many disabled people, who have been forced on to the street. They include struggling families who need urgent help to make ends meet. They include young children who are growing up without a stable home and a roof over their heads.

The most worrying thing is that the number of people who need help is rising. The situation is getting worse, not better. The number of homelessness applications from adults and children is rising, and applications are taking longer to deal with. The number of homeless people dying has gone up by an estimated 50 per cent. That is not just a housing emergency; it is a national tragedy.

All that is happening while more than 55,000 domestic properties across Scotland lie unoccupied. Homes that could be in use are lying empty. That should be a wake-up call to SNP ministers that something is deeply wrong with their approach.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. The app did not work. I would have voted no.

Good morning. The report notes that the Scottish Government can borrow £450 million per year, up to a cumulative total of £3 billion, for capital spending. It then points out that capital borrowing in 2021-22 was £150 million; it has been below the £450 million threshold in each of the last four years. You also note that there is limited information on how capital borrowing is being used.

The Scottish Government can also borrow for resource spending, up to a maximum of £300 million per year and up to a cumulative maximum of £1,750 million.

Is the Scottish Government sufficiently transparent about its decisions to undertake both capital and resource borrowing?

Okay. Thank you. I will move on to investment in private companies. Specifically, the paper mentions Prestwick airport, Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) Holdings Ltd, Burntisland Fabrications Ltd, or BiFab, and the Lochaber aluminium smelter. Starting with Prestwick airport, what are the financial implications for the Scottish Government of continued failure to find a buyer for it?

What better information could be provided to support effective scrutiny of the use of capital borrowing powers and the specific projects that it supports?

Do you have any concerns about the increasing level of repayment charges for the borrowing, and does the Scottish Government take any view on what is considered reasonable?