- Government ruling out customs scheme with EU is an “act of economic negligence”
- NHS stats: government must convene COBRA amid surge in norovirus cases
- Lib Dems reveal private company overseeing hundreds of sewage dumps
- Scot Lib Dems push for prison suicide and fatal accident inquiry reform
- Cole-Hamilton comments on scrapping of doomed social care centralisation
Government ruling out customs scheme with EU is an “act of economic negligence”
Responding to the Government appearing to rule out the EU’s proposal of the UK joining a European customs area this morning, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:
It is alarming that the Government is happy to negotiate with China but won’t even look at a better trading arrangement with our closest neighbours in Europe. This is an act of economic negligence.
If the Government thinks it will get growth back in the economy by borrowing Boris Johnson’s playbook on European negotiations it is going to end up being sorely disappointed.
It is time for a proper UK-EU customs arrangement so we can strengthen our negotiations with Donald Trump, cut the red tape on our businesses and grow the economy.
NHS stats: government must convene COBRA amid surge in norovirus cases
Responding to the latest NHS stats showing norovirus levels in hospitals to be 80% higher than last year with bed occupancy standing at 96%, well above the 85% that is considered safe, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said:
The situation for patients and our NHS could not be more stark. People are dying on trolleys in corridors and staff are at breaking point. It cannot be overstated just how grim things are in A&Es across the country.
This is one of the most brutal winters on record following years of shameful Conservative neglect and the current government is now at risk of losing control of this crisis. Any more delay in action has the potential to be deadly for patients.
COBRA must be convened immediately with an emergency plan brought forward to protect patients from this ongoing disaster.
It is time for the government to step up and grip this crisis in a way that they have so far failed to do.
Lib Dems reveal private company overseeing hundreds of sewage dumps
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today revealed that more than 500 sewage overspills took place at sites managed by private firms in just twelve months, including more than 100 at the Edinburgh Waste Water treatment work at Seafield, run by Veolia.
A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request has revealed that there are 12 sewerage assets managed under PFI contracts. Of these, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) were able to provide overflow data for nine, all managed by Veolia, a French utility provider. Across these nine assets, there were 518 spills in 2023, with dumping taking place for more than 3,500 hours.
Seafield is Scotland’s largest waste water treatment works processing 300 million litres of waste water every day. 165 dumping events took place at the site, with sewage spilling out for 890 hours.
Previously sewage spill data for Edinburgh has not been available as Scottish Water’s regular data publications only contains information for overflows monitored by Scotland’s government-owned water company. Overflow data from PFI assets is submitted directly to SEPA which does not proactively publish the data to the public.
In its report into sewage dumping in Scotland, Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) called on SEPA to publish data from PFI overflows.
Commenting on the figures, Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:
The more digging you do into Scotland’s smelly secret, the more unpleasant surprises you come across.
These figures reveal that next door to Edinburgh’s most popular beach, hundreds of sewage spills have taken place.
There are various reasons why these sewage releases can happen. Scotland’s sewage infrastructure is facing more and more pressure from housebuilding, dramatic weather events and the ravages of time which can lead to sewage being discharged from the system into rivers, beaches and waterways.
In areas like the Highlands, Scottish Water have taken private sewage works back in house. Veolia need to urgently shape up or a similar change may be needed.
Likewise, with this information not routinely being made public by SEPA, communities across Scotland will be worried that they do not have the full picture around sewage dumping near them.
Scottish Liberal Democrats have published plans for a Clean Water Act that would see a new blue flag system for Scotland’s rivers, as well as vital updates to our sewage network and a clamp down on discharges. Scottish ministers need to stop their excuses and get tough on sewage dumping.
Scot Lib Dems push for prison suicide and fatal accident inquiry reform
Speaking after this afternoon’s parliamentary statement on the Scottish Government response to Fatal Accident Inquiries into the Deaths of Katie Allan and William Brown, Willie Rennie MSP said:
The decisions we take in this parliament really matter and parliament needs to get this right.
Fatal accidents inquiries take far too long to begin. The Crown Office has shown itself to be incapable of handling FAIs, with delays that have tormented grieving families.
While I understand that the Cabinet Secretary wants to focus on decisions for the here and now, I am disappointed that she is not open to removing FAIs from the Crown Office’s remit altogether. If the system itself is contributing to these delays then it needs root and branch reform.
I am also disappointed that we are no closer to understanding why the prison suicide strategy has been allowed to lapse for more than 1,000 days ago. These shocking cases have been making headlines for years. If nothing else, you would think that might focus minds in the office of the Justice Secretary.
Cole-Hamilton comments on scrapping of doomed social care centralisation
Speaking in the Scottish Parliament as the SNP Government announced that they are scrapping their planned centralisation of social care services, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:
Care in our country is broken, but SNP ministers have spent four years and £30 million on the wrong solutions. That’s enough to pay the salaries of 1,200 care workers for an entire year. What a waste.
Every year wasted on this is a year the minister could have been getting on with fixing our broken care system.
So, will she now apologise to everyone stuck in hospital because community care is not available to receive them home? To the care workers who cannot offer the care and support they signed up for and want to offer because there simply isn’t enough time? And to the legions of unpaid family carers who don’t have the wraparound support they need?