Labour manifesto plan to cut NHS waiting lasts and end homelessness

Plans included polices on the economy, NHS, education and housing.

On health, Labour said: “Driving down the huge waiting list backlog will be a day one priority for a Scottish Labour government.”

It wants to “Break down barriers between health boards, so that any patient who has waited too long, and who is willing to travel elsewhere in Scotland or the UK, can be offered appointments and treatment in health boards with space to treat them.”

Launching the manifesto, Sarwar said: “Scotland is an amazing country with huge potential, but after 20 years of SNP government too many people feel our country is being held back. 

“They see it in our NHS, in soaring waiting lists and the struggle to get a GP appointment.

“They see it in schools under pressure, in town centres that have been hollowed out, in young people priced out of home ownership, and in families who work hard but feel they are getting nowhere.”

The manifesto includes a policy of working towards ending homelessness by 2040.

The plan involves expanding modular home pilots, as an alternative to expensive and unsuitable temporary accommodation.

Labour said this would boost the supply of quality housing in the areas most in need and ensure families have a safe, warm place to live while they wait for a permanent home.

It will create an Ending Homelessness Unit, to give “national leadership, working across government to test and roll out successful interventions that deliver on the objective to end homelessness by 2040”.

Prevention measures like ensuring a reformed Scottish Welfare Fund is “directed towards measures that help people to maintain tenancies and avoid homelessness in the first place”.

And a plan to eradicate rough sleeping, with local targets and interventions and improved support for housing first schemes.

Last week the Glasgow Times reported on the charity Social Bite opening a new modular housing scheme for 15 people in Rutherglen.

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The method has the backing of campaigners.

Sean Clerkin, campaign co-ordinator of the Scottish Tenants Organisation, backed the policy.

He said: “We are in the middle of a housing and homeless catastrophe in Glasgow and throughout Scotland where tens of thousands of homeless people cannot afford to wait any longer.

"Therefore we must build thousands of prefabricated modular homes at speed in factories and then assemble them on derelict brownfield sites to house thousands of homeless people.
“These modular homes are built quickly at low cost using renewable energy and are therefore energy efficient.”

On schools, the pledges included “Establishing a proper education workforce plan, so that teacher training places are linked to future jobs.

“Recruiting 1,500 more classroom assistants to help teachers manage behaviour and give pupils more 1:1 support.

“Finally delivering excellence through the curriculum, with a focus on knowledge and new national standards for numeracy and literacy.”