LABOUR SLAMMED FOR FAILING TO RELEASE £350m FUNDING TO HELP AFFORDABLE HOUSING

LABOUR SLAMMED FOR FAILING TO RELEASE £350m FUNDING TO HELP AFFORDABLE HOUSING

GRAY HUMILIATED BY HIS OLD BOSS

Glasgow SNP MSP Bob Doris - a member of the Scottish Parliament's Local Government Committee - has slammed Labour after their Chancellor of the Exchequer blew his last chance to release £350 million in accelerated capital funding in the upcoming budget to HELP invest in the construction of affordable housing.

Mr Doris said it not only highlighted both the powerlessness and hypocrisy of Labour MSPs, who have been sending a misleading document to councils about affordable housing capital, but was a humiliation for Iain Gray since he had previously called for this funding to be released.

Commenting Mr Doris said:

"The real issue housing before this budget was the capital funding for affordable housing and whether Labour are going to support the SNP Government's call for £350 million to be made available from accelerated capital funding.

“That Alistair Darling has failed to do this just shows how Labour are no different from the Tories.

“Likewise, Labour MSPs attempts to pretend that it was the Scottish Government’s responsibility are now looking more than threadbare. They supported our call for this acceleration of funding last year and now Iain Gray was completely snubbed by his old boss.

"Labour MSP Johann Lamont may like to treat councils and others as idiots but they know that last year's funding was accelerated funding brought forward from this year to avert an even more devastating recession.

"Instead of spreading dodgy dossiers she should have continued to support the SNP's call to the Chancellor for £350 million in accelerated capital funding. Her silence on that issue speaks volumes.

"That would have be an indication of a real commitment to affordable house building - not her hypocritical attempts to try and pretend there was no Labour recession and now no capital funding from London Labour’s Chancellor."