Reform UK’s Scottish leader Malcolm Offord has been criticised for using a member’s debate at the Scottish Parliament to discuss face coverings, an issue that has little relevance to the pressing concerns facing Scots.
The debate, held last night, focused on Muslim women wearing face coverings in public, a topic that became a culture war issue across Europe in the 2000s but quickly faded from view. The decision to prioritise this subject has been described as “deplorable” by the Daily Record’s Record View column.
Real issues ignored
If Scots were asked to list the top 10 issues facing the country, the cost of living would likely top that list. Rising fuel prices, soaring mortgage and rent payments, increasing energy bills, and inflation pushing up food prices are all hitting households across Scotland.
A recent report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that one in five children in Scotland grow up in poverty. More than 10,000 young people are currently living in temporary accommodation due to an acute housing emergency.
The reality is that very few Muslims choose to cover their full faces in public in Scotland, and society should be able to accommodate those who do.
Reform UK’s lack of substance
Reform UK has done nothing of substance since it elected 17 MSPs in May. It has offered no policies that might improve the lives of ordinary Scots and appears only interested in rabble-rousing on social media.
The party’s choice to focus on this largely inconsequential issue speaks volumes, especially when there are more important matters to debate.
Benefit scam warning
Earlier this week, the Daily Record revealed the growing threat of benefit scammers targeting elderly and vulnerable Scots. Online cowboys are offering to take care of benefit and pension claims, but then skim money from the benefits, depriving those with little cash of vital income.
Groups like Citizens Advice Scotland offer the same service for free, so there is no need to pay these profiteers. Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has taken up the case and is planning a promotional campaign to highlight the advice available to benefit claimants.
She is also meeting with Citizens Advice Scotland to explore how they can offer more help to vulnerable people navigating the benefits system. These moves are welcome and long overdue, and with plenty of free advice available, these online chancers could be driven out of business.
