Affordable Homes
Defeating Drugs : Cutting Crime
Standing Up For Families
AFFORDABLE HOMES
People of all ages, from all over Scotland, can find it difficult to purchase, and then keep, a home. Younger people, including those with families, struggle to get a foot on the housing ladder, families on the ladder have to work hard to pay the bills which accompany home ownership, and our older people struggle to stay on the ladder. We want everyone to enjoy the freedom that comes from owning a home. So we need to make it more affordable. Scottish Conservatives are the voice of Scotland’s aspirational homeowners.
Getting on the ladder
In some areas of Scotland, there is an inadequate supply of housing; in others, the housing market is overheated. Either way, the result is that key workers and young families are unable to buy their ideal home, and many villages and towns lose their local young people.
Scottish Conservatives will:
- Introduce Local Affordable Homes Trusts (AHTs) worth £100m every year. As a government, we’d contribute a third of that total, with the private sector – housing developers, businesses and individual investors – financing the rest. Would-be homeowners would apply to their local AHT for help to buy a home, in an area of their choice. The purchasers and the Trusts would share the benefits of the increasing value of the home.
- Free Up More Land. We’d complement AHTs by encouraging a change in the culture of planning. We need to leave well alone those areas of valuable green space on which there should never be a housing development, but allow other developments in suitable locations to go ahead.
Staying on the ladder
Scotland’s senior citizens face council tax bills which are rising at roughly double the rate of inflation, not to mention high energy prices. To offset this, many pensioners only have a state pension which isn’t enough to cover the cost.
Scottish Conservatives will:
- Cut Council Tax for Older Pensioners In Half. Nations are judged by how they treat their elderly people. We’d give a 50% council tax discount to all pensioner households aged 65 and over, in addition to any discount already received, and it will not be means tested. This will save an average single pensioner well over £400, and an average pensioner couple almost £600.
- End Ring-Fencing of Local Government Grants, with the exception of funding for joint police and fire boards. The Lib-Lab Pact dictates to councils what money must be used for, making it more difficult for the council to budget properly and keep council tax low. By ending ring-fencing, local authorities will be able to make decisions based on local circumstances, and will have no excuses for excessive council tax.
Don’t spend the Earth
Running a home is expensive. Switching the telephone or broadband provider and other money-saving changes can help, as can voting for a party which promotes lower taxes. However, people can save even more money in other ways, and help tackle global warming at the same time.
Scottish Conservatives will:
- Start a £12m Eco-Bonus Scheme. Households would be able to apply for a grant of up to £4,000 to install modern energy-saving and energy-creating technologies, like wind turbines or solar heating. Families would help themselves by saving money, and help the planet by reducing harmful emissions.
- Promote World Class Energy-Saving Design, by calling for an urgent review of building standards, which will help families keep their power bills down.
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DEFEATING DRUGS : CUTTING CRIME
In Scotland, a crime or offence is committed every 30 seconds, and estimates suggest that around 80% of crime is drug related. It is easy to see where the problems lie. Neither crime nor its causes have been tackled. That’s why we need to tackle them now. And the first step to cutting crime is defeating drugs. Scottish Conservatives are the voice of Scotland’s victims of crime.
Safer Streets
Honest, decent people deserve to be able to walk their streets – day or night – without the constant fear of becoming another victim of crime. We’ll give them reason to feel more secure.
Scottish Conservatives will:
- Hire 1,500 More Police Officers and Get Them Out on the Beat. There are only 147 police officers walking the beat at any one time in Scotland. We’ll provide a bigger police force, but we want them out on our streets. We’d achieve this by requiring the publication of localised crime statistics and making police board convenors stand for election by local people.
- Crack Down on Youth Crime. Too many of Scotland’s youngsters become caught up in petty crime at an early age, and are then on the conveyor belt to more serious offending. We’d put persistant offenders over the age of 14 before the Youth Court.
- Protect Scotland from Sex Offenders. The release from prison and housing of sex offenders is a source of great anxiety. For the greater protection of Scotland we will require these individuals to undergo compulsory lie-detector tests to establish their pattern of behaviour, and track them using satellites.
Paying the Price
Many people in Scotland have the feeling that too many criminals get off scot-free with their crimes. We agree. Criminals should pay the price for their offences – the full price.
Scottish Conservatives will:
- End Automatic Early Release. Criminals stroll out of jail either half-way or two-thirds of the way through their sentences. A new law from the Lib-Lab Pact may allow all prisoners to leave at half-time. They and the SNP have always voted against our attempts to end this ludicrous practice, but we will continue the fight to stop it.
- Say: “3 Strikes and You’re Out!” We’d make it clear to persistent offenders that the more they offend, the longer they’ll be jailed. Upon receiving their 3rd (or more) jail sentence, any criminal will have to serve additional jail time proportionate to their previous 3 sentences.
- Build More Prison Space. The answer to prison overcrowding is not to stop sending criminals to jail – it’s to build more prison space. Evidence shows that countries which jail more criminals have lower crime rates. We’d start building another prison immediately.
Defeating Drugs
There is a drug death in Scotland almost every day. 37 new patients ask for drug addiction treatment every day. Over 1,200 methadone prescriptions are handed out every day.
Scottish Conservatives will:
- Invest an Extra £100m a Year in Drug Rehabilitation. Estimates show that for every £1 invested in drug rehab, nearly £10 is saved in policing, court, healthcare and other social costs. Spending an extra £100m a year will save us £1billion a year, cutting crime in the process.
- Eradicate Drugs from Prisons. We’ll never get rid of drugs from our streets if we can’t even keep them out of our jails. All prisoners will undergo random drug tests and random searching. Anyone caught with drugs will have their visitation rights suspended.
- Show Zero-Tolerance to Drug Dealers. They profit in the destruction of lives. We’ll try all drug dealers on at least Sheriff Court indictment, which carries a longer maximum sentence, thanks to legislation passed by the last Conservative government.
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STANDING UP FOR FAMILIES
The family is the most important institution in Scotland. Families teach Scotland’s children how to be good members of society, encourage them to be socially responsible and self-sufficient, and show them how to raise their own families in the future. In short, families provide us with our direction and our stability, and teach us right from wrong. That’s why we need to stand up for families of every type and background. Scotland enjoys a rich diversity of cultures and Scottish Conservatives will stand up for them all. We are the voice of Scotland’s families.
Childcare
Bringing up children isn’t easy. Any parent will confirm that. It tests relationships, and tests the budget. But most parents will also confirm that it’s the most rewarding job they’ve ever done. Conservatives want to make that job easier.
Scottish Conservatives will:
- Provide More Choice Over Nursery Education. We’ll encourage local authorities to let parents decide with which nursery they should use their 12.5 hour free weekly entitlement.
- Help Parents Access Childcare. We’ll encourage all employers to make salary-sacrifice childcare vouchers available to their employees, and work with colleagues at Westminster to promote more choice over how best to use this money.
- Support the ‘ Yellow School Bus’. Many parents like to drive their children to school for understandable reasons. But we’d like to see more councils offering a “yellow school bus”, which would pick up children and drop them off, cut congestion and improve safety outside the school gates, and reduce harmful emissions from cars.
Healthcare
Our families pay tax, and are entitled to expect high quality healthcare services in return. Too often, though, they don’t receive it. Families need to know that they have acute services like A&E and maternity facilities close to their homes, a choice over where they receive elective treatment, access to a dentist, and improved mental health facilities.
Scottish Conservatives will:
- Offer Closer, Faster, Better Healthcare. We’d fight to retain local emergency and maternity services, and improve the system for elective treatments by allowing patients to choose which hospital will perform their operation. This could lead to the elimination of waiting lists.
- Recognise a Family’s Right to a Dentist. We’d work with dentists to end the current crisis, and give families access to the dental care they pay for through their taxes. We’ll invest £10m on training dental hygienists to therapist level, so that they can go into schools in mobile dental units to look after our kids’ teeth.
- Recognise Mental Ill Health Scotland can’t ignore mental ill health. It is a common condition, and the health service must be there to help families who are struggling to cope with the mental health deterioration of a loved one. With £10m investment, we’ll work with the voluntary sector and social enterprises to provide a broader and more readily accessible range of services.
Wealthcare
People want more money in their pockets so that they can give their family the lifestyle they want. They’re right. They know how to spend their money far better than politicians and bureaucrats do. So we want to help them.
Scottish Conservatives will:
- Not Introduce a Local Income Tax. The SNP and the Lib Dems want a new local income tax of up to 6.5 pence in the pound, on top of the income tax we already pay. This would cost ordinary couples – a police officer and a nurse for example – over £1,500 extra every year.
- Say No To Road Tolls. The Labour Government in London and the Lib-Lab Pact in Edinburgh want to charge hard-working families even more to drive on the roads, even though they already pay road tax, fuel tax, income tax and council tax. We oppose the introduction of any additional nationwide charges for using Scotland ’s existing roads.
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