SCOTTISH Labour had “no aspiration for government” and is “fighting for second place” in the forthcoming Holyrood elections, Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs during angry exchanges at First Minster’s Questions yesterday.
At the first episode this year of the weekly parliamentary bout, Dugdale attempted to lay the blame on the Scottish Government for a decline in the number of young people owning their home.
She accused the First Minister of failing to face up to the reality for the thousands of Scots in “generation rent” who are struggling to get on to the property ladder.
But the SNP leader hit back, saying the Government had provided 30,000 new affordable homes and that if re-elected it would build 50,000 new affordable homes over the course of the next Parliament.
“Labour has made no commitment on supply whatsoever. Perhaps that is because, as we know, in the election, Labour is not aspiring to be the Government but fighting to hold on to second place,” Sturgeon added.
Earlier in the exchanges, Dugdale said that since the Scottish Parliament was set up in 1999, there had been a threefold increase in the number of those aged 16 to 34 living in private rented homes, rising from 13 per cent to 41 per cent.
She reaffirmed elections plans unveiled by her party this week that it plans to give first time buyers up to £3,000 per person towards their deposit if the party wins May’s Holyrood elections.
Sturgeon responded with a challenge of her own, calling on Labour to set out a target for affordable house building.
“We’ll focus on building more houses, because it’s by building more houses you get the cost of houses down, and you let more people get them,” she said.
“We’ve helped, since we were elected, 20,000 people into home ownership through our shared equity schemes and Help to Buy. Three quarters of the people we’ve helped are under the age of 35.
“But secondly, and arguably most importantly, what this government is doing is focusing on increasing housing supply.
“That’s why I’m so proud we’ve exceeded our target of 30,000 new affordable homes in this parliament and we’re now looking to our ambition of 50,000 new affordable homes across the next parliament as well.”
But Dugdale told her there were “thousands of young people in Scotland paying high rents to private landlords rather than owning their own home”, describing them as “generation rent”.
She said the First Minister had “failed to face up to the reality of life for many people of my generation,” adding: “What the First Minister’s generation almost took for granted is now too often out of reach for people of my generation.”
Under Dugdale’s proposal, first-time buyers who save for a deposit using the UK Government’s existing Help to Buy ISA scheme will be entitled to an additional £3,000 from a Scottish Labour government.
The party said it would not cut Air Passenger Duty (APD), as the SNP has proposed, and would use these funds to pay for the scheme.
“We want to spend the money helping young people buy their first home – Nicola Sturgeon would rather spend the money giving airlines a tax cut,” Dugdale said.
“Isn’t it the case that the First Minister is on the side of the big airlines while Scottish Labour is on the side of young families just trying to get on in life?”
But Sturgeon said it was the third use the Labour party had made of the APD money.
“That is not the first or even the second use, but is the third use of air passenger duty money by the Labour Party,” she said.
“Let me remind Kezia Dugdale, yet again, of her own words from 30 October 2015, when she said that Labour would “scrap the APD measure” and spend that money “for education”. So, first it was education, then it became tax credits and now it is housing. That is not the behaviour of a credible Opposition, let alone a credible alternative Government.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here