Holyrood Notes

After a senior staff member retired at the weekend, and another leaves soon, NHS Tayside will very shortly have no senior breast cancer doctors.

In discussion with the management board of NHS Tayside, I’ve urged them to apply more pressure to the Scottish Government to get more trainees on board – looking internationally if they have to. This is a very serious crisis for the health board and the SNP are at fault.

Scottish Conservatives raised the problem when the vacancy first arose and wanted it discussed with members of the the board management as early as possible.

They know it's an unacceptable situation to put vulnerable people in when they need help most.

At its core, this is a workforce planning crisis that the SNP could have averted.

But they have taken their eye off the ball once again, and the people of Angus and Tayside are paying for that.

On a different tack, small rental businesses in Angus are now hurting because of damaging and unnecessary legislation introduced by the SNP-Green coalition.

However, they u-turned and launched a new consultation, just a few months later. All short-term let properties will require a licence and local authorities will be required to establish a short-term lets licensing scheme by October 1.

The previous SNP government at Holyrood dropped its plans for further regulation on short-term lets following pressure from business owners and the Scottish Conservatives ahead of last year’s election.

Further regulation is the last thing the industry and small businesses need as they aim to recover from the devastating effects of the pandemic.

Small businesses in Angus are the lifeblood of our local economy and are only just starting to recover from the devastating effects of the pandemic.

This will only put jobs and livelihoods at risk, yet local SNP MSPs refused to listen to concerns and shamefully voted to pass this damaging scheme regardless.