Scots gripped by rent crisis as soaring costs leaving families homeless and in poverty – Daily Record

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The soaring cost of renting a private home is causing massive poverty and ­fuelling homelessness, the Record can reveal.

A shortage of supply has led to abuse by unscrupulous landlords, who are refusing to meet the cost of basic repairs and are illegally evicting tenants.

Figures show that the average monthly rent for a flat in Glasgow rocketed by £73 in a year, the biggest rise among UK cities.

A three-bed flat in the city now costs tenants £1187 a month.

A similar trend is being seen across Scotland, as a shortage of social housing has sent demand through
the roof.

ECA International (ECA), a global firm providing housing data to major companies, found increases of £20 a month to £1180 in ­Aberdeen and £29 to £1664 in ­Edinburgh, the UK’s fourth most expensive city to rent in.

Homeless charity Shelter has spoken to many people whose standard of living has plummeted this year as they are priced out, with some ending up in temporary lets set aside for ­homeless people.

Alison Watson, director of Shelter Scotland, said: “The shortage of safe, secure and affordable social housing in popular areas like Glasgow and Edinburgh means there is increasing demand for privately rented homes, and landlords can name their price.

“As rents rise, individuals and families are priced out of their chosen ­communities and forced to live in housing which doesn’t meet their needs whether it’s in the wrong ­location, is too small or is in poor condition.

“Some end up priced out of the market altogether and get trapped in temporary housing for people ­experiencing homelessness.”

Watson said a massive building programme is needed to help those affected.

She added: “The last Scottish Government has built the most social homes in a generation but it hasn’t been enough to close the gap between supply and demand.

“We need a more ambitious strategy. Independent researchers say 37,100 social homes are needed between now and 2026 if we’re to reduce the number of people waiting for the home they need.”

Private rents in Scotland for a two-bed property had increased over the last decade by 28 per cent – with a 46 per cent jump in Glasgow.

Sturgeon promises Scotland will be Oz – but it’s a yellow brick lie – Daily Express

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IN under two weeks voters will go to the polls. Nicola Sturgeon is trying to convince people that what is really on the ballot sheet is the decision on whether Scotland should face another referendum.

Her logic is simple, if you vote for the SNP and they win a majority then they have a mandate because the people of Scotland will have spoken. Interestingly, the First Minister doesn’t talk about it being a mandate to lead a successful and powerful devolved Parliament. But perhaps that is not too surprising given her personal track record. If voters were just looking at suitability to run a devolved Government the SNP’s popularity would almost certainly take a hit.

After all, you do not normally ride home with a majority if you are steeped in controversy. If you have wasted millions of pounds on failed projects. If you have presided over declining education standards and missed health waiting targets. If you have doubled the drug deaths rather than halving them.

Normally after 14 years of messing up you would face the wrath of the voters at the ballot box. But silver-tongued Nicola Sturgeon understands her audience.

She knows that they do not care about her failures because they are willing to believe that they are simply beyond her control, consequences of the supposed evil regime south of the border.

As long, as she continues to offer the dream, she may yet salvage success at the polls from that legacy of failure.

But the real question is whether the crown she wins is one that will bring adoration or her ultimate martyrdom.

She has played her role with adept finesse to date, offering just enough hope to her acolytes to keep them on side but never quite taking them over the line.

It is the ultimate yellow brick road, and the Wizard of Oz is frantically trying to keep the show on the road.

But Scotland’s Wizard of Oz cannot in reality deliver her promises.

Her sweeping claims about separation lack any substance.

Since the age of 16 she has lived and breathed the dream of separation and yet she is still unable to answer even the most basic questions on how a standalone Scotland would work.

After 34 years of thinking about it, 14 years of which she has been in power with unfettered access to the resources of the Scottish Government, Ms Sturgeon has not come up with any answers she is willing to share.

The best she can offer is that she will commission a working group.

Presumably because they didn’t like the answers the last group gave them, A Growth Commission that talked of years of austerity clearly wasn’t going to sell the dream.

So, after 34 years, one has to wonder if she isn’t just a little bit worried that it is not quite as simple as she wants us all to believe.

But maybe Ms Sturgeon does not need to worry.

After all a leader needs a team and on Wednesday her number one candidate in the South of Scotland Emma Harper gave an interview to a reporter in which she explained that a hard border between Scotland and England was a positive prospect because it would create jobs.

So, apparently, we can stop worrying about that challenge!

The same Emma Harper also explained in a previous interview that currency will not be a problem because we can all use plastic.

I guess when your mantra lacks substance you need disciples that are not embarrassed by their own lack of knowledge.

Sadly, Ms Sturgeons deception has not only fooled her own disciples the opposition at Holyrood has been sucked in and given oxygen to the illusion.

Despite referenda not being a devolved power, they too are campaigning on the idea that the election is about a referendum mandate.

So, as they all dance along the yellow brick road in the hope of returning to Holyrood the voters are asked to decide who has courage, who has a heart and which one has a brain.

Education minister John Swinney’s unminuted meetings spark fears of secret government – Sunday Post

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Education minister John Swinney’s unminuted meetings spark fears of secret government

Education minister John Swinney is at the centre of a new transparency row over three unminuted meetings about an important review of what Scots pupils are taught.

No minutes were taken at the discussions Swinney held with the leading international organisation reviewing Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence.

The education ­minister admitted he held the private meetings with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) under questioning from the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

We told in February how the Scottish government had been handed interim findings but was insisting they must stay under wraps until after the election.

Days later MSPs passed a motion demanding Swinney release the draft report but he has yet to do so, saying it is for the OECD to publish its findings. Last month, he released a summary to MSPs on the condition it was not leaked but opposition politicians said it lacked any detail.

An OECD review of the Curriculum for Excellence in 2015 said one in 10 schools was “weak or unsatisfactory” and a fifth were rated only “satisfactory”.

Swinney has now told the Lib Dems he met the OECD three times since September 2019 to discuss the curriculum review but no minutes were taken at any of the meetings because there were no actions.

A series of meetings involving SNP ministers have been unminuted, raising concerns among campaigners for transparent government. The undiaried and unminuted meetings included a number of discussions involving Nicola Sturgeon that featured in the Alex Salmond affair this year.

Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie wants ministers to agree to a new “duty to record” so the public can access accounts of important ministerial meetings and decision-making processes.

Rennie said: “It is astonishing John Swinney has blocked the public from seeing a single word that was said at three meetings he had with the OECD.

“This is the umpteenth time that no minutes have been taken of important meetings. The SNP prefers stitch-ups, secrecy and spin to any kind of accountability.”

Willie Sullivan, ­director of the Electoral Reform Society Scotland, said: “A route back to public trust means the workings of government being as transparent and open as possible.”

The Scottish government said meetings between the OECD Review Team and the coordination team were not routinely minuted as they focused on the practicalities of delivering the review.