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THE Tories and Reform being chosen to lead Holyrood’s social justice, housing and local government committee has been branded a “joke”.
While plenty of noise has been made about the SNP taking on both the convener and deputy convener roles on the Scottish Parliament finance committee, a tenant’s union has said the two right-wing parties being in charge of scrutinising housing policy suggests the issue is not being taken seriously.
While we don’t know exactly who will sit on each committee yet – there are 16 of them this session – we do know which parties will be in charge of scrutinising each policy area.
We will put a full list of which party is expected to hold the convener and deputy conveners at the end of this newsletter, for those who are keenly interested.
But what is interesting is which positions of power Reform – who before May 7 were an almost unknown entity in Scottish politics and only had one MSP, a Tory defector – will wield.
Those three critical areas are the social justice, housing and local government committee, which will have a Tory convener and a Reform deputy.
And the economy, tourism and energy committee, which will have a Reform convener and a Scottish Labour deputy convener, as well as the health, care and sport committee, where Reform will have a convener role, supported by a deputy convener from the SNP.
Now obviously, Reform are democratically elected members of parliament and have the right to sit on committees, that is not what is being questioned here, but let's remind ourselves of their policies in these areas, from their Holyrood manifesto.
On housing, their policy is that affordable housing is “being given to strangers in priority to locals”, takes aim at Glasgow housing asylum seekers – which it says the party will “end” – and that they will “restore community cohesion by putting locals first”.
They also say they would have ceased “any new building regulation” and stopped “local planners getting in the way of sensible local development”. Reform’s manifesto also takes aim at the SNP for “saddling” the private rented sector with regulation, with no mention of tenants rights.
On health, Reform set out the issues with the NHS in Scotland – delayed discharge, long ambulance waits etc – but goes on to talk about cutting income tax for resident doctors and how the party’s economic plan will help to boost the health service.
Their economic plans are mainly focused on reducing income tax, something that will disproportionately benefit the richest in society.
A manifesto rooted in reality, this was not, but it raises important questions about how tackling some of the biggest issues facing Scotland – health, housing, and the economy – and scrutinising the Scottish Government’s handling of it will be left to a party that was elected on a paper-thin manifesto with very little substance.
Housing in particular is set to be a large feature of this parliament, and the Tories are known to take the side of landlords over tenants.
We still don’t know how many of Reform’s MSPs are landlords, but we impatiently await the updated MSPs registers of interests to answer that question, for all parties. Last term, nearly a fifth of MSPs were landlords or owned shares in letting companies.
Barbara Welsh, chair of Living Rent, said that Reform being “anywhere near” the housing committee “makes a complete joke of this parliament”.
“The majority of people are struggling to afford rent or mortgage costs or are stuck in temporary accommodation and this parliament is completely disregarding the needs of tenants,” she told The National.
“Neither the Conservatives or Reform have any sort of coherent plan to solve the housing crisis.
“Both are more intent on fostering division than ensuring that the diverse working class has a roof over their heads.
“Reform have made clear that they have no plan to address the social housing waiting list. “Instead, they are resorting to dog-whistle racism to pit neighbours against each other.”
Welsh said the appointments are “particularly egregious” as the registers of interests have not been published yet and MSPs could be voting a landlord into a key position with “no way of knowing”.
“We already know that Reform leader Malcolm Offord owns six homes,” she added. “How could he understand anything about the housing crisis let alone have any sort of plan to fix it?”
The full list of Holyrood committees and which parties are set to chair them:
- Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee – Convener, SNP. Deputy convener, Scottish Tories.
- Finance Committee – Convener and deputy Convener: SNP
- Public Audit Committee – Convener, Scottish Labour. Deputy convener, SNP.
- Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee – Scottish Greens Party convener, deputy Reform
- Equalities and Human Rights Committee – Convener, SNP. Deputy Convener, Scottish Tories.
- Public Petitions Committee – Convener, Scottish Labour. Deputy Convener, SNP.
- Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee – Convener, SNP. Deputy convener, Scottish Greens.
- Climate Action Committee – Convener, SNP. Deputy convener, Scottish Greens.
- Criminal Justice Committee – Convener and deputy Convener: SNP.
- Economy, Tourism and Energy Committee, Convener, Reform. Deputy convener, Scottish Labour.
- Education and Gaelic Committee – Convener, SNP. Deputy convener, Scottish Labour.
- Health, Care and Sport Committee – Convener, Reform. Deputy convener, SNP.
- Public Service Reform Committee – Convener and deputy convener: SNP.
- Rural Affairs Committee – Convener, Scottish Greens. Deputy convener, Scottish LibDems.
- Social Justice, Housing and Local Government Committee – Convener, Scottish Tories. Deputy convener, Reform.
- Transport Committee – Convener, Scottish LibDems. Deputy convener, SNP.
