BANFFSHIRE and BUCHAN COAST Liberal Democrats

Commenting on the Scottish Government's plans for the next phase of the vaccine rollout, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

"Millions of Scots are waiting anxiously to hear when they will be able to get vaccinated.

"The JCVI has looked at all of the evidence and laid out proposals for how to maximise protection and prevent more tragic deaths.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has today called for the First Minister to offer support and certainty to Scotland's Highlands Games after it was revealed that 13 games including Cupar in Mr Rennie's North East Fife constituency have already been cancelled, with more expected to follow.

Responding to comments from Professor Mark Woolhouse that "Scotland was not close to elimination at any stage during this epidemic", Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

"The professor has punctured the First Minister's claims about the success of last summer.

"The truth is that the SNP Government did not use the time last summer to prepare for the second wave.

Scottish Liberal Democrats have today said that new figures showing increases in car traffic demand a radical overhaul of Scotland's transport network.

The Scottish Transport Statistics 2020 highlighted that:

• Transport accounted for 35.6% of Scotland's total greenhouse gas emissions in 2018.
  
  
• The number of bus journeys has fallen again
  
  
• The distance travelled on Scotland's roads was at the highest level ever recorded. In 2019, 48.7 billion vehicle kilometres were travelled, an increase of 1% compared to the previous year, and 10% more than in 2009.
  
  
• There were 96.4 million ScotRail passenger journeys in 2018-19, 1.4% less than the previous year and the first decrease in passenger numbers in many years.
  
  

Commenting on this afternoon's Conservative debate on local government funding, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

"The Conservatives have got it monumentally wrong today.

"Under today's Conservative plan, more than £600million would have been automatically removed from the NHS Scotland annual budget between 2018 and 2023.

Responding to today's briefing from Audit Scotland and the new blog from Scottish Auditor General Stephen Boyle who writes "it's getting harder to identify what is, and isn't, Covid-19 spending... That's because of the volume of announcements (over 170 to date)", Scottish Liberal Democrat economy spokesperson Katy Gordon said:

Commenting on the news that a preferred bidder has been appointed for Prestwick airport, transport spokesperson and lead list candidate for Glasgow, Carole Ford said:

"I hope that the new owners can rejuvenate the airport and ensure that it escapes its controversial reliance on the US military for custom.

Commenting on this afternoon's Scottish Conservative party debate on prisoner voting, Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP said:

"The public understands that our communities are safer when we invest in smart justice. They understand that imprisonment should be a chance to give people who have done wrong the opportunity to do right in the future.

Scottish Liberal Democrats housing spokesperson Paul McGarry has today said that the Scottish Government should be "ashamed" after statistics published by the National Records of Scotland revealed 216 homeless people died in 2019 - an 11% increase on the estimate of the previous year.

The statistics also showed:

Responding to new figures from Public Health Scotland showing that around 101,000 patients in Scotland were waiting for a key diagnostic test on 31st December 2020, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

"It is really sad to learn that over 100,000 patients were waiting for a key diagnostic test in December 2020, an increase of 15.3% on the same time last year.