Martin Whitfield MSP has joined parliamentary colleagues in helping commemorate this year's Holocaust Memorial Day on Monday 27th January, which this year marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The theme chosen for HMD 2025 is For a Better Future. It encapsulates our collective responsibility to shape a better future, imploring us to [...]

Martin Whitfield MSP has welcomed the news that several rural businesses from the South Scotland region are among the finalists in this year's Countryside Alliance Awards. The Awards are the Countryside Alliance’s annual celebration of British food and farming, enterprise and heritage through our small hard-working businesses. The Rural Oscars are now in their 18th [...]

A new campaign led by the energy sector Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS) Taskforce and overseen by Ofgem has been launched to highlight the urgent need for RTS customers to book the installation of a new meter as soon as their energy supplier contacts them. The campaign explains what the RTS service is and how households [...]

Martin Whitfield MSP is encouraging primary schools across South Scotland and beyond to participate in VoiceBox 2025 – a national joke-telling competition for primary schools. Mr Whitfield attended the launch of this year's competition which took place at Cockenzie Primary School, home of last year’s winner, Gordon Moodie. On the first day of joke-telling, competitions [...]

This Cervical Cancer Prevention Week (20-26 January), The Eve Appeal is sharing advice and tips on you can ask for during cervical screening tests. The charity's YouGov survey found that one in two women were not aware they could ask the nurse or doctor to stop at any point during their screening. One in four [...]

Martin Whitfield MSP is calling on local grassroots organisations to consider applying for new grant funding opportunities from Asda’s charity, the Asda Foundation. The Asda Foundation has announced up to £500,000 of funding to help transform and improve community spaces across the UK. Grants awarded will be worth between £500 and £3,000 and are aimed at [...]

Martin Whitfield MSP has warned the Scottish Government is presiding over “a decade of decline” of childminding in Scotland as new figures show numbers halving. The number of childminders in Scotland has plummeted by 49 per cent between 2012 and 2023 – a drop of more than 3,000. This figure has fallen for seven consecutive [...]

Martin Whitfield MSP has warned that people in East Lothian and other parts of South Scotland are being “priced out” of the housing market as one in four Scots say they cannot afford to move. The most recent Scottish Household Survey has revealed a sharp rise in the proportion of Scots unable to move to [...]

Martin Whitfield MSP has called the failure to extend rates relief to retail businesses a “hammer blow” to high streets, as new figures reveal that the number of employees in the retail industry in Scotland has hit a 15-year low. Between 2023 and 2024 alone, more than 10,000 jobs were lost from the industry – [...]