I noted an article in the Forfar Dispatch about Angus Council contract for new housing stock last month. I agree with “An Angus Employer” who complained in a letter [4 November] that the contract was not awarded to a local Angus business. 

Unfortunately Councils in Scotland are tied to the procurement policies of the SNP government. They have centralised the process and made it extremely difficult for smaller local businesses to be approved to even bid for contracts. The approval process and level of paperwork is beyond local builders and service providers. I have discussed this very issue with builders in Angus before and after this year’s General Election.  

That is why I was delighted to be able to support a new procurement policy for the Scottish Lib Dems at their recent Autumn Conference. This calls for a replacement for the SNP’s procurement body, Scotland Excel, in favour of a unified body that will make local and central government contracts accessible for smaller local businesses. 

I know that local Councillors are as frustrated about the issue as local businesses and have strived to help them meet the arduous requirements imposed on them by the SNP’s simplistic one-size-fits-all procurement policy. 

After next year’s Scottish election, the situation will hopefully change.  Let us hope it is not too late for local firms struggling to stay afloat during the recession.

You can read more about the situation by clicking here for an article in The Courier.

I welcome the Scottish Government’s decision to include the Liberal Democrat proposal to remove the right-to-buy for new build council and social landlord houses in the draft Housing (Scotland) Bill. There is an overwhelming case to abolish the right to buy for new build council houses.

However, I was disappointed to hear that my fellow parliamentary candidate, Tory, Alberto Costa, is not supporting the proposal. I am surprised that Mr Costa does not appreciate the hugely negative impact this policy has had on the most vulnerable families, Angus Council’s budget and taxpayers’ funds.

Families across Angus and indeed, Scotland, are having to wait for years for suitable council accommodation. Councils have had to sell off their best assets at steep discounts, under this old Thatcherite policy.

There are much better methods for helping first time buyers get onto the property ladder, such as equity mortgages, that do not disadvantage vulnerable families and do not disrupt Angus Council’s ability to provide suitable housing.

Does Mr Costa seriously expect Angus Council to continue the cycle of finding suitable land, planning, funding and building houses, just to sell them off cheaply to property speculators?

He seems to want to nationalise the costs and privatise the profits. It demonstrates that the Tories have not changed and cannot be trusted to run this country.