Dundee Liberal Democrats - www.dundeelibdems.scot

At the weekend we met with old friends and new from our European sister parties for ALDE Congress, albeit via a Zoom link, as the Congress was online for the first time. It was my privilege to lead a diverse Lib Dem delegation of around 40, which in addition to the official categories for diversity, included several UK nationals resident in the EU and a few EU citizens resident in the UK.

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Beatrice Wishart has today called on the Scottish Government to speed up the delivery of a job guarantee for ever 16-24 year old after new figures today revealed that the number of school leavers in employment had fallen sharply.

Statistics on school leavers destinations nine months after leaving school reveal a 0.7% decrease in school leavers being in a positive destination between 2018/19 and 2019/20. However the proportion in employment fell from 28% to 21.3%.

Responding to the news that the rate of drug-related hospitalisations continue to increase, as hospital stays rise to almost 15,000.

New statistics by Public Health Scotland show that in 2019/20, there were 14,976 drug-related hospital stays. This amounts to a stay rate of 282 stays per 100,000 population, which is a threefold increase since 1997/98.

Responding to the news that Scotland has again missed its emissions reductions target, Scottish Liberal Democrat energy spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP said that the SNP's "warm words will make for an even warmer planet."

A Scottish Government publication, released today, showed a 51.5% reduction between the baseline period and 2019. The target set out in the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 specifies a 55.0% reduction over the same period.

Priti Patel says refugees should come to the UK through safe and legal routes, and is threatening to punish any who don't.

The Conservative Government is failing to provide any safe and legal routes for refugees to take.

But at the same time, the Conservative Government is failing to provide any safe and legal routes for refugees to take.

Marking the start of Loneliness Awareness Week, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today set out his party's proposals to boost mental health and tackle what he described as a "crushing wave" of loneliness.

According to a survey of UK adults which took place from March until November during Covid-19 restrictions, one in four (24%) adults in the UK said they had experienced feelings of loneliness.

Scottish Liberal Democrats will this week use a debate on Scotland's drugs deaths crisis to urge the new Lord Advocate to prioritise the prevention of drug deaths through new guidance to pave the way for more people misusing drugs to get the treatment and support they need, instead of a destructive experience of the criminal justice system.

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP has today called on public figures to "show that differences and debate can exist without hatred", as new figures from the Crown Office showed that hate crimes have risen in almost every category over the past twelve months.

The Crown Office report published today notes: