Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has today called for the Scottish Government to delay the return to universities in line with the decision on schools. He has also called for the publication of an urgent new plan so students can manage the weeks ahead.

Mr Rennie said:

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has today called on the First Minster to suspend her independence campaign again to reflect the “perilous situation” the country and NHS face in light of the deadly third wave of the virus.   

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP has called the decision to scrap a key rehabilitation service "completely perverse", as it is revealed that the throughcare service that helped 100 prisoners a month move on and away from reoffending has been dropped because of overwhelmed prisons.

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Beatrice Wishart MSP has today warned of the “tremendous toll” of mental health absences among staff at Scottish schools, as she revealed that 550,000 school staff days have been lost for mental health reasons since April 2017. 

Scottish Liberal Democrats have today revealed ScotRail's "delay repay" pay outs for 2019-20 surpassed the "eye-watering" sum of £1.1m in the year up to the start of lockdown.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

“2020 has been a year like no other. The stresses and strains of it will be etched in our memories for many years to come.

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP has today urged Police Scotland to "look closely" at new data which shows that only 1% of police officers ranking sergeant or above identified as BAME and consider why the top tiers of policing "aren't nearly as diverse as the public it serves".

Freedom of information requests by the Scottish Liberal Democrats revealed top tier positions including Sergeant, Inspector, Chief Inspector, Superintendent, Chief Superintendent, Assistant Chief Constable, Deputy Chief Constable and Chief Constable were only held by 44 people of BAME backgrounds - equating to 1% of those in high-ranking positions. 

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today warned that Scotland’s national mental health will not recover from the pandemic unless the Scottish Government get serious about staffing, as research by the party revealed that 1 in 8 senior mental health roles are currently vacant.  

Scottish Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Molly Nolan has today accused the Scottish Government of lacking "green ambition" and called on them to make electric vehicles more accessible, after new statistics show only 2,265 electric vehicle loans have been taken up in the last 6 years. 

The Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request also showed there have been just 3,041 applications to the Electric Vehicle Loan Scheme since 2015-16.

Scottish Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson Paul McGarry has today demanded the SNP take “urgent and drastic” action to tackle homelessness, after an investigation by the Scottish Liberal Democrats revealed that more than 12,000 children and 25,000 adults were homeless last Christmas. 

In 2015 there were 10,508 children within live homeless applications on Christmas day. In 2019 that number was 12,467, alongside a further 25,832 adults.