Ending Homelessness
Lillian Jones Excerpts(1 day, 23 hours ago)
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Lillian Jones (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab)
I thank the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) and my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Wavertree (Paula Barker) for securing this important debate.
I am angry and frankly embarrassed that I am here today to discuss the deepening homelessness crisis in Scotland, which is inseparable from the scandal of rising child poverty. After nearly two decades in power, the SNP has presided over that crisis; in fact, the Scottish Government fuelled it by cutting the affordable homes budget by £200 million, or 26%, despite mounting political pressure to declare a national housing emergency, which they finally did. The fact that the SNP failed to respond to that growing crisis over years with either urgency or even compassion demonstrates its lack of leadership; quite simply, it was abandonment. After 20 years of the SNP, Scotland has nothing to show, only a national disgrace: rising homelessness, rising child poverty and a Government who have lost their way.
As of March 2025, over 34,000 households in Scotland were assessed as homeless or at risk of being homeless— the highest number in over a decade. Temporary accommodation figures also hit a record high, with over 17,000 households—a 6% rise—affected. That is a scandal.
Behind those numbers are children. Over 10,100 children were living in temporary accommodation, with no home to call their own—young lives in limbo, with no stability, no security and no dignity. A further shocking fact is that 242 people died in 2023 while homeless, half of them under the age of 45. Some of those deaths were linked to drugs misuse—another crisis the Scottish Government have failed to address. These are not just policy failures; they are moral failures.
The SNP has lost sight of why it was elected. It has no solutions and no answers. Frankly, Scotland demands better from its Government: bold, radical policy, investment, leadership to end the scourge of homelessness, and temporary accommodation to restore stability, security and dignity for every homeless child and adult.
Post-industrial Towns
Lillian Jones Excerpts(4 months ago)
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Lillian Jones (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab)
My constituency has a proud industrial heritage and is renowned for the rich diversity of its industrial output during the 19th century. We had the world famous Johnnie Walker whisky plant which was linked to Kilmarnock for more than 190 years, Saxone, a shoe manufacturing and retail company, Massey Ferguson, producer of tractors and combine harvesters across the world, and BMK, a major carpet manufacturer which played a prominent role in Kilmarnock’s industrial landscape, even producing the red carpet for Queen Elizabeth’s wedding in 1947 and carpets for the movie “Titanic”. Does my hon. Friend agree that while these industries have, sadly, gone, post-industrial towns across Ayrshire do have a bright future and that there is potential for exciting developments in aerospace, renewable energy, AI and data centres to name just a few sectors, driven by a modern industrial strategy to support long-term sustainable growth?
Chinese Embassy Development
Lillian Jones Excerpts(4 months, 1 week ago)
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Matthew Pennycook
The hon. Gentleman invites me, again, to consider a planning decision that has not been made, on a case that is not yet before the Department. I am clearly not going to set out from this Dispatch Box the decision-making process that planning Ministers in my Department might take to the application once it is submitted.
Lillian Jones (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab)
Given the serious concerns about national security, can the Minister confirm that his Department has consulted on this issue with UK and allied intelligent agencies, including those of the USA? Can he say whether a full national security review will be conducted before any planning decision is taken?
Matthew Pennycook
As I have made clear, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on any specific national security issue. What I have been at pains to make clear is that the inspector’s report, which will come before Ministers in my Department at the point when the case comes to us, will include a wide variety of material planning matters, and in this case they are likely to include safety and national security matters.