SNP's glaring failure over housing crisis

THE SNP has held Scotland back in many ways. One of the most damaging has been their persistent failure to address the housing crisis. Last week, more than 100 experts from local government, universities and the construction industry produced a report arguing that it was one of the most significant barriers to economic growth, and that the government should be encouraging the building of at least 25,000 new homes a year.

- Rachael Hamilton

But that report appeared the day after official figures from the Scottish government, and those showed that last year, under the SNP, the supply of new homes actually fell by nearly 4,000.

Last year was when the SNP finally admitted that there was a full-blown housing emergency after a string of councils, including those in our largest cities, had declared local emergencies.

It's extraordinary that, having at last acknowledged the problem, things should be getting worse, rather than improving.

Rural Scotland has had to contend for years with a shortage of supply that makes it very difficult for young people to stay in the area where they've grown up, and which has an enormous knock-on effect on the local economy.