In Brief: Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch candidate John Erskine in his own words addressing some of the key problems faced by the constituency ranging from fuel poverty to transport
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On the eve of the Scottish Parliamentary elections, Scottish Labour's John Erskine offers his answers – in brief – to some of the most significant issues facing the north ranging from fuel poverty to delivering healthcare after the pandemic to the housing crisis that is de-populating many areas and the problem of transport.
John Erskine:
Fuel Poverty
“Scottish Labour and I support establishing a national energy company that can give direction and inject investment on a large scale, driving new generation capacity and working with local supply chains, engaging councils and local communities under common ownership.
“We also need a new definition of fuel poverty that includes an uplift for rural communities and a minimum standard of energy efficiency in private rented sector housing of an EPC rating of at least C by 2025.
“Planning laws should be used to ensure that all future houses are built to the highest available efficiency standards. The elimination of fuel poverty should be achievable in an energy-rich Scotland, but it requires political commitment and credible plans to achieve it.”
Healthcare:
“Healthcare should be accessible locally to people where they live, and we need to move away from the centralisation of services to Inverness which can lead to long journeys and increased anxiety and stress for patients.
“It’s clear that challenges remain around recruiting and retaining health and care staff in rural areas and I support the development of additional training facilities in the region to develop our homegrown skills and attract more people to work in our area.”
Housing:
"I want the next Scottish Government to commit to building thousands of zero-carbon social homes in the Highlands and Islands over the next ten years, with parity of grant funding between councils, co-operatives and housing associations.
"This lack of decent, warm and affordable housing is compounded further in places like Skye, where the purchase of second homes and the rise in profiteering short term lets, which the SNP have also failed to reform or regulate effectively, is pricing young people and families out of the area."
Transport:
“We need to enable our bus services to go back into public hands and provide start-up resources for councils to run them, not for profit - not to line the pockets of shareholders, but as an essential public service that we will all benefit from.
“Getting people out of their cars and onto public transport will also help us meet our climate change goals and we should be ambitious in our aims and seek to provide universal free bus travel for everyone.”
Read more of our election coverage here
