Liberal Democrats

Tony Hughes (Liberal Democrats)

1. Rutherglen and Cambuslang’s move to become part of NHS Lanarkshire has proved controversial. What will your party do to protect vital NHS services and keep them in the area?

Local Liberal Democrats have been campaigning hard against the widely-disliked proposals to move after-hours GP services for Rutherglen and Cambuslang patients from the Victoria Infirmary to premises in Hamilton or Airdrie. This is just one example of the downside of the centralising policies pursued by the SNP Government who are in charge of the NHS in Scotland. Health services should be delivered in a way that suits local people and not Holyrood bureaucrats. Meantime, Liberal Democrats in Government at Westminster have undertaken to meet the needs of the NHS – providing an additional £800 million for NHS Scotland.

2. There is a severe lack of social and affordable housing in Rutherglen and Cambuslang, how will your party tackle this?

The lack of social and affordable housing in Rutherglen and Cambuslang is a direct result of both the right-to-buy legislation introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government and the decline in new house building throughout the term of the last Labour government. The economic recovery engineered by the Liberal Democrats in government has got Britain building again with almost 150,000 homes built last year. If re-elected, Liberal Democrats will increase this to 300,000 new homes a year. In Scotland, the proportion of these homes provided as social and affordable housing is a matter for the Scottish Government.

3. What can you and your party do to keep jobs in Rutherglen and Cambuslang and encourage inward investment?

Jobs are created by strong businesses on the back of a growing economy. We now have one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Liberal Democrats in government have created 170,000 new jobs in Scotland, while balancing taxation and spending to

4. Can people trust the Lib Dems when you ditched a flagship policy of free tuition fees when you had a sniff of power in 2010?

In short – Yes. The Liberal Democrats scrapped tuition fees in Scotland 15 years ago. Without a majority in 2010, we were unable to abolish tuition fees in England – which were supported by both the Tories and Labour (Labour introduced tuition fees). However we did reform the system so that English students do not have to pay upfront and more students from poorer backgrounds now go to University than in Scotland. Liberal Democrats have delivered 80 per cent of our manifesto pledges – including raising the tax threshold (saving people over £800 a year) and increasing the state pension by record amounts.

5. What three people, either living or dead, would you invite to a dinner party?

I would like to invite Winston Churchill, the Dalai Lama and Malala Yousafzai to my dinner party. All have shown considerable courage in remaining true to their beliefs.