Commenting on the news that East Lothian Council faces a £45m funding gap over the next five years, Martin Whitfield MSP said: “In the run-up to last month’s Scottish Budget, I warned about the funding pressures facing East Lothian and other councils following years of cuts to local government funding and the severe impact further [...]
Martin Whitfield MSP has welcomed the announcement that East Lothian Council has been awarded £11.3m from the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund. Mr Whitfield had supported the council’s bid for funding, which will help undertake further preparations at the former Cockenzie power station site to make it more attractive to potential investors. Commenting on the [...]
Martin Whitfield MSP has joined parliamentary colleagues in welcoming a group of P6 pupils from Tweedbank Primary School in the Borders to the Scottish Parliament and participated in a Q&A session with them as part of their official visit to Holyrood. The Parliament’s education service delivers education sessions to over 22,000 Scottish pupils every year [...]
Martin Whitfield MSP has joined 40 parliamentary colleagues across the political spectrum in signing a joint letter to the Deputy First Minister supporting funding for the men's shed movement in Scotland. The cross-party letter urges John Swinney to reverse the decision to end core funding for the Scottish Men’s Shed Association (SMSA), which has played [...]
Martin Whitfield MSP met with members of the EIS union on their picket line in Prestonpans today to offer his support for the action they and colleagues from other teaching unions are taking in response to their pay offer from the Scottish Government and COSLA. The head of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT), [...]
Today is Less Survivable Cancers Awareness Day and Martin Whitfield MSP is joining parliamentary colleagues to help promote awareness of the day and the symptoms of less survivable cancers. The day aims to raise the profile of the six less survivable cancers (cancers of the lung, pancreas, liver, brain, oesophagus and stomach), to raise awareness [...]
Martin Whitfield MSP today attended Friends of the Earth (FoE) Scotland's exhibition stall at the Scottish Parliament to meet some of the team and find out more about the environmental charity's latest campaigning and other activity. FoE's attendance at Parliament co-incided with the publication of the Scottish Government's draft Energy Strategy, setting out its policies [...]
The Association of British Insurers have been in contact with me to provide advice and information for constituents in the South Scotland region who have been affected by flooding. They say that insurers’ first priority following any flood event is to work with customers, arrange for alternative accommodation where this is required, and get the [...]
Martin Whitfield MSP has said this year must be the year Scotland enshrines a statutory Right to Food in law, as figures show food bank use soaring in East Lothian. The Trussell Trust’s mid-year statistics show that the number of food parcels handed out in East Lothian has soared by 197 per cent since 2017. [...]
The cost-of-living crisis is having an adverse impact on the mental health of many people, with four in ten reporting their mental health having worsened due to it. Support with health and wellbeing is available from various sources: Scottish Government Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) See Me Scotland Samaritans Scotland Health in Mind Change [...]
