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A LABOUR government will fund the building of 120,000 new council and social homes in Scotland in a bid to end homelessness, Richard Leonard announced today.
Scottish Labour leader Mr Leonard said the party would invest £10 billion from a new national transformation fund to finance the mass building drive.
Speaking at the launch of Scottish Labour’s election campaign in Glasgow, Mr Leonard said: “Labour will tackle Scotland’s housing crisis, we will provide a home for everyone and we will end homelessness once and for all in Scotland.
“And in so doing, we will generate almost 50,000 jobs here in Scotland — giving our young people the work and the skills they need to prosper.”
With housebuilding devolved to Holyrood, Mr Leonard called on First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to commit to the pledge if Labour is elected to government nationally.
“To anyone who says this policy is not deliverable, I say this: you are letting the SNP off the hook,” he said.
“Today I am challenging Nicola Sturgeon to commit to delivering this programme when a UK Labour government is elected on December 12.”
Elsewhere at the launch, Mr Leonard played down reports that the SNP could support a minority Labour government, emphasising Scotland’s role in electing the next prime minister.
“Scotland has the power to decide if Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn is in Downing Street by the end of the year,” he said.
“The only way to get a Labour government is to elect Labour MPs from Scotland. There is no shortcut to a Jeremy Corbyn government through the SNP.”
Mr Leonard launched the party’s campaign in the Glasgow North constituency, an SNP-Labour marginal where the SNP’s Patrick Grady won in 2017 by just 1,060 votes.
Speaking at the Maryhill launch, Labour’s candidate for the seat Pam Duncan-Glancy told activists that the area has been “let down at the hands of Tory cuts, passed on by the SNP” and accused the latter of “talking left and acting right.”
“People are struggling to make ends meet, they are working longer hours and taking less home,” she said.
“This election is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change this and we’re not going to waste it. This is the fight of our lives.”
