Councillor’s column
ALASTAIR REDMAN - KINTYRE AND THE ISLANDS
Health and social care
Recently on Islay I was delighted to meet Mary Ann Douglas - associate lead nurse for care homes - and was also pleased to catch up with Councillor Amanda Hampsey, policy lead for health and social care, in regard to care services on our islands.
From helping patients in their final years to giving a younger patient an easier start in life, health and social care workers are often directly responsible for improving the day-to-day lives of patients.
As your councillor I will always do all that I can to assist and support this essential service.
The Post Office Scandal
The Post Office scandal has shaken our nation to the core with the losses incurred by postmasters ranging from a few pounds to tens of thousands.
The only way to get justice for everyone affected is for every Horizon transaction correction that has ever come through and been settled by cash or cheque between 1999 and 2015 to be paid back to the relevant postmaster. The pressure on our political leaders must not stop until every conviction is overturned, every postmaster is properly compensated, every transaction correction paid back, every unpaid hour of work paid in full and for all those responsible for this miscarriage of justice to be brought to justice.
Campaigning for more housing
Affordable housing is a critical issue that affects hundreds if not thousands of my constituents in the Kintyre and the Islands ward. As the cost of housing continues to rise, many individuals and families struggle to find safe, stable, affordable places to live.
It provides individuals and families with a secure place to call home. It gives them a sense of stability, allowing them to focus on other aspects of their lives such as education, employment and personal growth. It also helps build and strengthen communities. When individuals and families have stable housing, they are more likely to invest in their area, engage in community activities and form strong social connections.
I will keep campaigning for more affordable houses to rent and buy to be built in every corner of our ward.
Food bank support
I was pleased to make another donation of more than 150 tins of food to the Tarbert Soup Kitchen and Pantry, above. It’s great to see such wide-ranging support for charities like this. Our food banks and their hardworking volunteers help people break free from poverty by providing additional support to help people resolve the crises they are facing so they don’t need to use a food bank again in the future. This can include debt advice, mental health support or benefits guidance.
These groups need all the help we can give them.
I will fight for our farmers and crofters
Humza Yousaf has been urged to stop using farmers as a scapegoat and return the remaining £46m of funding to the Scottish agriculture budget when he addresses the NFUS conference. The First Minister will deliver a speech at the annual event in Glasgow, while SNP rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon will also be in attendance.
It comes weeks after she announced that just £15 million would be returned to the rural portfolio in the 2024-25 budget. In June last year, NFUS received a categorical assurance from deputy first minister Shona Robison that the £33m deferred from the agricultural budget in 2022 would be returned to the agricultural budget.
Instead of that money being returned, it emerged a further £28m of uncommitted funding was to go the same way but Ms Robison promised to fully return the total amount without giving a timeline. The SNP’s silence on cuts to Scotland’s agriculture funding has been deafening but Humza Yousaf now has the chance to deliver the money his government promised to farmers. Having grown up on a small, family-owned and run croft, I know the hardships our farmers and crofters face and I will not stop fighting their corner for a fairer deal.