Scotland’s skills shortage is a national calamity when so many of our young people are struggling to find well-paid, good quality jobs. Shipyards in Glasgow and Rosyth are currently employing thousands of well-paid contractors from overseas as bosses cannot find enough qualified tradespeople from the local workforce.
The situation is even more acute in the construction sector. Today the Daily Record reports on concerns a push to build more affordable housing could be at risk due to a lack of skilled tradesmen.
Recruiters warn a significant amount of senior professionals – the kind who run sites and ensure projects are completed on time and budget – are nearing retirement age. But nobody is being trained to replace them.
Scotland is experiencing a housing emergency but somehow the number of new homes being completed each year is at lows not seen since World War II. A range of factors have caused the emergency but a basic one is not enough new homes are being built.
Our biggest cities – where the majority of jobs are – face huge shortages of affordable homes. And there are more children stuck living with their families in temporary accommodation in Edinburgh than the entirety of Wales.
More housebuilding means we need more people qualified to build houses. That means encouraging young Scots to undertake apprenticeships instead of pursuing dubious degrees. Construction doesn’t just mean digging holes. It involves well-paid, skilled jobs which are in high demand.
The SNP government needs to ensure it plugs a growing skills gap or risk seeing even fewer homes being built. A generation of youngsters face being left in low-wage employment when they could be filling that gap.
One of the bedrocks of political debate should be parties agreeing on uncontrovertible facts. Accepting election results, however painful defeat can be, is an obvious red line in a civilised society.
Agreeing on the primacy of science is another no-brainer. Our story today on Reform MSP David Kirkwood shows how far we are straying from these principles.
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Kirkwood believes the conspiracy theory that Donald Trump won the 2020 US election despite Joe Biden romping home by seven million votes. Even more worryingly, he did not take the Covid jag and appeared proud to say he persuaded others to follow his lead.
May’s election resulted in too many cranks like conspiracy theorist Kirkwood getting elected to Holyrood. They won’t get away with polluting our nation’s political discourse with dangerous misinformation.
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