Maree Todd: Full of admiration for local hero Joan Lawrie
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Holyrood Notebook by Maree Todd
I was delighted to kick off this month with the opening ceremony of the sixth session of the Scottish Parliament where I welcomed my ‘local hero’, Joan Lawrie – a valued member of the Thurso community – to Holyrood.
Over the past 18 months, Joan has gone above and beyond to support her community throughout the pandemic, from setting up and running the Sharing Shed to organising food deliveries for the elderly and vulnerable.
Although nothing will come close to expressing my full admiration for Joan, it was fantastic to see her heroic efforts recognised in the opening ceremony celebrations.
It was disappointing to see the UK Supreme Court ruling this month that significant sections of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill fell outwith the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament.
The Tories showed their true hypocritical colours as they tried to critique the legislation that they had unanimously voted for along with the rest of the Scottish Government. Ministers have pledged to continue work to review the Bill, which gained cross-party support, to ensure that the rights of children throughout Scotland are protected to the highest standard.
Whilst the Scottish Government acts to protect children, the UK government has moved to inflict further hardship on families by introducing a 20 per cent cut to Universal Credit. In Scotland, one third of households are in receipt of the benefit, including nearly 17,000 Highland households.
Despite hundreds of anti-poverty campaigners, human rights experts, cross-party committees, and the devolved governments urging the UK government to change course, the Tories pushed ahead with the biggest overnight cut to welfare in 70 years. The knock-on effect of this, which comes in the midst of a cost of living crisis, will leave many families in my constituency vulnerable to extreme poverty this winter.
The impact of these callous Tory cuts was reiterated throughout the Sutherland Fuel Poverty Summit earlier this month. Whilst the event focused specifically on Sutherland, much of what was discussed applied to the rural communities I represent across the constituency.
The rise in energy costs was also at the centre of the discussion. Unfortunately, this is an area the Scottish Government bears little influence over and it’s therefore essential that the UK government takes urgent action to provide financial support to low-income households to support them with the price rises.
The Scottish Government is working within its limited powers to address another root cause of fuel poverty – poor energy efficiency in homes. In the Highlands, our housing stock is predominantly made up of older, traditional buildings, which generally speaking are poorly insulated and costly to heat. Our Heat in Buildings Strategy, as set out earlier this month, outlines how we will move to eliminate poor energy performance as a cause of fuel poverty.
Not only will this strategy work to reduce fuel poverty rates in all 32 local authority areas, but it also puts Scotland firmly on track to meeting its net-zero ambition targets.
Before the parliament broke for recess, we had the welcome news that the Boundary Commission’s proposals for electoral arrangements for the Highland Council area had been withdrawn. This follows the Local Government, Housing and Planning committee’s decision to unanimously reject the proposals.
This is a positive outcome for Caithness, which would have suffered a boundary change and the loss of one councillor. I’m pleased to have played my part in ensuring my constituents’ voices were heard and I’m grateful to the committee for their decision.
However, our victory has been overshadowed by the recently announced proposals for UK Parliament constituencies, which yet again moves to weaken democratic representation in our Highland communities.
- Maree Todd is the SNP MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross.
