Humza Yousaf’s first weeks in office have presented him with the in-tray from hell. But whatever his other troubles, they are all dwarfed in the long-term by the pressing need to address climate change.
That will be the defining issue of our time – for Scotland and for the rest of the world. However, as Audit Scotland’s damning new report makes clear, the Scottish Government has failed to prepare the country to properly respond to this crisis.
Nicola Sturgeon was rightly praised for declaring a “climate emergency” in 2019. But the reality today is stark and shocking: Scotland is missing most of its climate goals, most of the time.
We already knew, from an expert report by the Climate Change Committee in December, that we’ve gone increasingly off track from our ambitious emissions targets. Now, we know from Audit Scotland that the government’s own internal risk assessments say there is a “high risk” Scotland will fail to meet its legally-binding net zero aims.
The government acknowledges the impact of such a failure would be “severe” – for us and the wider planet. Yet auditors found the actions taken to reduce this alarming risk to be “vague”, disjointed and poorly tracked.
This is the truly great crisis of the 21st century – and the Scottish Government’s response is not up to scratch. They are not alone in that. But for all the rhetoric of SNP and Green politicians, Scotland should be doing far better and leading the way.
From more frequent floods to the growing threat of summer heatwaves, we’re already seeing the effects of climate breakdown, here and now – even in Scotland. The time for paying lip service to these matters is over. Actions, not words, are what we need now.
End rent rip-off
Rogue landlords who try to thwart the rent cap need to be hit with the full force of the law. Emergency legislation was first passed by MSPs during the first Covid lockdown to protect tenants from being evicted.
It was soon extended after the cost of living crisis erupted and inflation soared. But campaigners have now warned that private tenants are being pressured into rent increases that go far higher than the three per cent cap set out by the Scottish Parliament.
Despite the rent freeze, a loophole allows landlords to increase rents if a tenant agrees to it. Rent in Scotland has already increased by an average of 11.9 per cent over the last year leading to the average two-bed home to cost £924 per month.
It’s obvious the rules urgently need to be tightened up to ensure more people do not fall victim to unscrupulous landlords.
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