
Housing secretary feels 'personal weight' to prioritise children
From being a ministerial role, the housing brief was recently elevated to cabinet secretary level for the first time. Just in time for the Holyrood elections in May next year. Coincidence? I think not.
It also comes as housing issues are at crisis levels in Scotland and it is now over a year since a national housing emergency was declared.
The situation is only getting worse; countless figures, charities and individuals will tell you that.
House building is plummeting, 10,000 children are stuck in temporary accommodation (the highest since records began), over 250,000 are stuck on social housing waiting lists and thousands are priced out of owning homes.
Some might classify Ms McAllan's inheritance as a poisoned chalice but, according the woman herself, it's an honour to be sitting at the cabinet table with such an important brief.
Asked if she was ever hesitant about taking on the role, Ms McAllan said: 'No, never.
'It is hard coming back from maternity leave but then I sit at the cabinet table and I think about how lucky I am to be there.
"My objective is just trying to do as much as I can in the time that I have and to be as effective as I can.'
READ MORE:
Previously energy secretary, Ms McAllan is no stranger to important cabinet meetings.
However, she admitted that her new role will be challenging and, like other ministerial positions, it's kept her awake at night.
Mairi McAllan during the Sumitomo ceremony at Port of Nigg, Tain. (Image: Simon Price PA Media Assignments/PA Wire)
Speaking to The Herald in an office in St Andrew's House, Ms McAllan said: 'Yes, it's daunting, yes, there are challenges.
'Every job in government is a daunting task to take on. I've never had a job in government where I've not gone to bed thinking about it. That's what's required of a government minister when you are in charge of a brief, no matter what it is.
'I take my responsibilities very seriously.'
She points out that she's a former property lawyer when I raise painfully slow planning application processes.
"I know how it can be an enabler and inhibitor of action and I want it to be an enabler," she tells me. What "enabling" will look like though is still to be determined – hopefully a faster system.
When the struggle of first-time buying, something I've been attempting to do for over two years now, is raised she says: "I get it. I am a similar age to you ... it's incredibly difficult."
Again, no plan as of yet but I would not be surprised if a scheme is announced in the next 10 months.
Read more:
There are many crises when you turn your eye to housing issues in Scotland. However, for Ms McAllan, one issue stands out.
'Children in temporary accommodation weighs very heavily on me personally but all of that focuses me on trying to make the biggest difference that we can,' she said.
John Swinney has already made eradicating child poverty one of his key aims in government.
Yet, with record high numbers, being able to overcome this will be incredibly difficult.
Ms McAllan has said those figures 'must come down' if the government wants to achieve this key aim.
'That's why we have put housing into cabinet and that's why I'm trying to turn over every stone I can, " she said, "There are so many things that need to be done as a housing secretary but those children, I'm just unashamedly putting supporting them at the top of my to-do list.
"The personal weight of that does weight heavily on me."
For Ms McAllan, it's all the more personal to her now that she does the best she can to improve this dire situation.
After giving birth to her son in August, she told The Herald her recent life experience has shaped her approach.
'I can't abide by the idea', she says when the number of children stuck in temporary accommodation is raised.
'I have my own son. I know what it's like as a mother to want to do everything you can for your child to keep them safe and have a warm comfortable home so I'm putting them on top.'
Ms McAllan also reflected on the differing attitudes towards her return from male and female colleagues.
'Since I came back, interestingly, a lot of men keep saying to me, 'You must be so well rested', and women come up to me and say, 'You survived.'
'It just shows the difference, on a serious point, when it comes to how undervalued women's caring responsibilities are in politics.'
But she will likely be hoping she can prove her worth in this role.
One of the fresh talents in the SNP, there have been murmurs in the Holyrood corridors that John Swinney giving Ms McAllan a cabinet secretary position as important as housing is his attempt to carve out a succession plan.
Scottish National Party Leader John Swinney and Mairi McAllan. (Image: Jane Barlow/PA Wire) 'It's not something that I consider for myself at this point in time." she said when asked if this was the case.
"I know the First Minister is intending on leading us into the next election and he intends to win it and stay on as leader for the next term so I don't think that the position that he has his ministers in just now is about succession planning as such, or at least immediately, but he wants his best team around him.
"He wanted housing elevated to cabinet for it to have priority and I'm pleased to have taken that up.'
Not a surprising response but note the use of the word 'immediately'. Not now, but potentially in the future a path to become the next SNP leader may be on the horizon.
But let's not pave the way to a succession just yet.
Ms McAllan has got a very important job to be getting on with.
In the role for less than a month, Ms McAllan says she is still getting 'the lay of the land' to decide what needs to be 'stepped up' in terms of an emergency response to the housing crisis.
Bolder and immediate plans will come after recess, she insists.
The cabinet secretary knows these plans will have to be impressive and fast. 'I don't have a huge amount of time," she points out.
The housing secretary is right.
With less than 11 months until the Scottish Parliament elections, she's come to this brief fairly late.
What needs to happen now is improvement to the government's housing crisis response for not just her party's sake but, crucially, for the thousands suffering under the crisis.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Herald Scotland
18 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Scotland's housing crisis: Labour blast SNP for lack of housing plan
In Scotland, there are currently over ten thousand children stuck in temporary accommodation, the highest since records began, and over 250,000 people stuck on social housing waiting lists. During a sit-down interview with The Herald, Ms McAllan said she would introduce an "enhanced and expedited" plan to "step up" action to tackle the housing crisis in Scotland after the Scottish Parliament Summer recess. The newly-appointed housing secretary was not yet able to reveal what those plans were. Ms McAllan said: 'I can't tell you today exactly what my plan is, but I do intend to set out a plan as soon as I can with some enhanced and expedited action which will respond, as I see it, in an emergency fashion." Scottish Labour's housing spokesperson, Mark Griffin MSP said, following the paper's recent interview, it appeared as though the SNP did not have a plan to address the crisis. READ MORE: Scotland's Housing Crisis: McAllan to deliver emergency plan Housing secretary feels 'personal weight' to prioritise children Mr Griffin said: 'It is hugely concerning that despite the housing emergency being declared over a year ago, SNP ministers still do not appear to have any plan to tackle this crisis. 'It's clear that this SNP government is out of ideas and running out of time. After nearly two decades, we have 250,000 people on social housing waiting lists, and it is heart-breaking that over 10,000 children are stuck in temporary accommodation. 'A Scottish Labour government will turn the page on SNP failure and tackle the housing emergency once and for all by reforming planning, boosting housebuilding and delivering fair funding for local government and affordable housing.' Speaking about a timeline for a plan from the Scottish Government, Ms McAllan said parliament would need to be back so that MSPs can scrutinise any proposals. When asked if this plan will include more investment, the housing secretary said the capital position in Scotland is 'very difficult' at the moment. The expected post-Scottish Parliamentary recess plan comes as house building numbers in Scotland are plummeting, with nearly 4,000 fewer homes in supply in 2023-24 compared to the year before. Ms McAlllan said these figures are 'concerning' but insisted they do not present an 'unbridgeable gap'. The cabinet secretary said: 'The stats that we have had on the all ten year builds, they showed an 11% decrease in starts, and a four per cent decrease in completions and that is of course the wrong direction, particularly when we have such high demands but it is not insurmountable.' In 2021, the SNP set themselves a task to build 110,000 affordable homes by 2032. Opposition parties and the outgoing chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Association have said they will fail to meet this target. The cabinet secretary, however, said she believes they can meet this target and she intends not to rollback on it. Ms McAllan said the 'core' of action to tackle house building would be the Affordable Housing Supply Programme which the government is investing £768 million this year. The housing secretary said she is told this will translate into 8,000 affordable homes. Other levers being explored by the Scottish Government to tackle the crisis include converting temporary homes to permanent ones, attempting to "unlock" stalled housing developments and hiring more empty homes officers.


Scotsman
a day ago
- Scotsman
New 'Corbynesque' hard-left party plays into hands of Nigel Farage and John Swinney
Former Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn, centre, and Zarah Sultana together on a picket line outside London Euston railway station in 2022. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire Those activists welcoming Zarah Sultana's scheming are the very definition of 'useful idiots' Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... It is always reassuring to check in with the radical left and learn it continues to take its strategy from Monty Python's 'Life of Brian'. Put two Trots in a room together and they'll soon start arguing over whether the People's Front of Judea or the Judean People's Front truly had the interests of the workers at heart. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The narcissism of small differences is a disease that infects extremists, for whom ideological purity matters more than intellect or motivation. We most recently witnessed this phenomenon on Thursday when the MP for Coventry South, Zarah Sultana, announced she had quit Labour and would now proceed to form a new political party alongside former opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Sultana, who has been sitting as an independent since having the Labour whip withdrawn last year, said she and Corbyn would 'co-lead the founding of a new party, with other MPs, campaigners and activists'. Shortly after Sultana issued her statement, Corbyn was said to be 'furious and bewildered'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad By Friday, he had softened a little. Discussions with Sultana were ongoing and she would 'help us build a new alternative'. But the member for Islington North – expelled last year from the party he once led – stopped short of endorsing Sultana as co-leader of anything. This was hardly surprising: Corbyn is a man of considerable ego who has never previously shown much interest in sharing the spotlight with anyone (unless, of course, it's with one of his 'friends' from Hamas or Hezbollah). The same activists who previously declared that Corbyn only failed to become Prime Minister because Labour hadn't been left-wing enough to defeat the Conservatives in 2017 and '19, have been out and about over recent days declaring Sultana's decision to quit the party a disaster for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. At last! Here's a real alternative to the neoliberal/warmongering/genocidal (take your pick) policies of the political establishment. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad There may well be some Labour voters who follow Sultana's lead but a number of leading MPs on the party's far left have already said thanks but no. If a new party of the left actually emerges, it will not include such Corbyn allies as John McDonnell, Clive Lewis, and Diane Abbott. Shortly after sharing Sultana's statement, one high-profile activist declared that Labour was 'dead'. There's no question that the Prime Minister has had a rough first year in office – with many of the problems he's faced being entirely of his own creation – but the idea that a Sultana-Corbyn dream-ticket stands ready to bury his party is laughable. These are people who could not co-ordinate a simple announcement. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad If Sultana and Corbyn held a party at Tennent's Wellpark brewery, everyone would go home sober. Don't try to tell me they can steward a winning election campaign. That's not to say there is no appetite out there for an alternative to Labour. A recent poll for the More in Common group found that a new party of the left could end up taking as much as 10 per cent of the vote in a future General Election. But only a third of that support would come from Labour supporters with most of the rest coming from those who currently turn to the Green Party for their regular hit of unearned righteousness. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Sultana's decision to cancel her Labour membership came days after she claimed 'we are all Palestine Action' in response to plans to proscribe the organisation as a terror group. According to Labour insiders, Sultana's statement had already sealed her fate and she was heading for expulsion. Was the politician's resignation really an act of principle or was it a face-saving jump before a humiliating push? The political right continues to go through a period of turmoil. Nigel Farage's Reform Party has been gutting the Tory vote recently and some pollsters suggest it could win the next General Election. This, one must assume, is a prospect that fills the likes of Corbyn and Sultana with horror (they can't be wrong about everything, after all) yet I can't see a new party of the left doing anything but making it more likely. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad If Farage continues to gorge himself on the Tory vote then Labour will be the only party that can credibly stop him. And, if a new Sultana-Corbyn vehicle nibbles away at Sir Keir Starmer's support – even by the meagre three points suggested by that More in Common polling – then Farage's chances of entering 10 Downing Street will, of course, increase. Like Farage, First Minister John Swinney would be happy to see a new Corbynesque party in the running. The matter of independence remains so potent that the chances of the nationalists losing support to the hard-left seems vanishingly unlikely. On top of that, the Scottish Greens are well established as the home for those who dream of the destruction of Israel and the free distribution of puberty blockers to confused children. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Attacks on Scottish Labour from the left will only strengthen the SNP's narrative that Sir Keir Starmer is the weak leader of a divided party. Sultana's departure from Labour was, I think, a significant step on her journey towards irrelevance. She might help take some votes away from her former colleagues – if she and Corbyn can get a new party up and running and then, crucially maintain some semblance of unity until the next General Election. But, surely, only the most committed ideologue believes that the British electorate currently thirsts for a Government of the hard left? Those left wingers cheering the news that Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn plan a new party are about to improve the chances of Nigel Farage being the next Prime Minister. They are, as is so often the case with those from their political tradition, the very definition of 'useful idiots'.


The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- The Herald Scotland
Scotland's Housing Crisis: McAllan to deliver emergency plan
In an interview with The Herald, Ms McAllan also said she is 'unashamedly' making eradicating child poverty her top priority after taking up the portfolio last month. Her comments come as, over a year ago, a national housing emergency was declared in the Scottish Parliament. READ MORE: Plan to use student flats to house homeless approved but 'is not long-term solution' 'People will die': Housing Secretary urged to end 'political choice' of homelessness John Swinney creates new role for Mairi McAllan in cabinet reshuffle There are currently over ten thousand children stuck in temporary accommodation, the highest since records began, and over 250,000 people stuck on social housing waiting lists. Announcing her intentions to deliver a plan to tackle this, Ms McAllan told The Herald: 'I'm still working with senior officials to get the lay of the land and what now can be stepped up. 'I can't tell you today exactly what my plan is, but I do intend to set out a plan as soon as I can with some enhanced and expedited action which will respond, as I see it, in an emergency fashion." Asked about when to expect this action, the cabinet secretary said: 'Parliament needs to be back because it will need to be announced in parliament then scrutinised - but that's the timeline I'm working on because we don't have a lot of time.' The cabinet secretary said the capital position in Scotland is 'very difficult' at the moment, when asked if this plan will include more investment. Ms McAllan said: 'If there was no shortage of public money, I would want to see it put into housing. There is a shortage of public money so I have to think creatively about that because we still need more.' A Scottish Government investment taskforce is currently considering how much public money could leverage private money into the housing sector. The expected post-Scottish Parliamentary recess plan comes as house building numbers in Scotland are plummeting, with nearly 4,000 fewer homes in supply in 2023-24 compared to the year before. Ms McAlllan said these figures are 'concerning' but insisted they do not present an 'unbridgeable gap'. The cabinet secretary said: 'The stats that we have had on the all ten year builds, they showed an 11% decrease in starts, and a four per cent decrease in completions and that is of course the wrong direction, particularly when we have such high demands but it is not insurmountable.' In 2021, the SNP set themselves a task to build 110,000 affordable homes by 2032. Opposition parties and the outgoing chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Association have said they will fail to meet this target. The cabinet secretary, however, said she believes they can meet this target and she intends not to rollback on it. Ms McAllan said: 'These are challenging targets but I think the public expect their governments to challenge themselves. I'm absolutely not intending to roll back on any of that." Asked if the 2032 target is still credible, she said: 'I think it is. I think that it will require things to step up. It's challenging for a number of reasons, not least costs.' The cabinet secretary cited inflationary costs that have been 'bearing down' on construction since Covid as well as rising demand for housing. Housing charity Shelter Scotland recently named John Swinney's legislative agenda a 'Programme for Homelessness' as they argued it failed to provide a significant increase in plans for social home building or extra budgets or investment in housing services. The Housing Secretary accepted more action is needed but believes "real effort" from the government is currently taking place. She said: 'I think there is more that we can do but I wouldn't agree with that assessment [from Shelter Scotland] because I see real effort being made on that foundation programme of housing delivering as well as trying to look at all these labours for empty homes.' Ms McAllan said the 'core' of action to tackle house building would be the Affordable Housing Supply Programme which the government is investing £768 million this year. The housing secretary said she is told this will translate into 8,000 affordable homes. However, she admitted this is not enough to solve the crisis situation. 'Houses need to keep on being delivered but that's not enough because that will take 18 months," she said, "So I also need to understand what levers can be pulled to bring empty homes back into use to turn around social voids. 'The challenge is now so stark and there's a number of reasons for that and we just need to demonstrate that we can step up. 'We've got a Scottish election next year. I have come quite late to this brief but if I had to say what's one of things I'm focused on achieving is bringing down the number of children in temporary accommodation. I can't abide the idea that they do not have a permanent home." Earlier this week, The Herald revealed additional empty homes officers are being recruited to bring more privately owned houses back into use as part of a £2 million fund. Stalled developments is also an 'untapped area', according to Ms McAllan, and she said the government is 'brokering' those issues with developers to 'unlock tens and thousands of houses'. An area the cabinet secretary also wants to focus on is supporting people to buy their first home as thousands of people are currently priced out of the market due to bidding wars, rising costs, a lack of government support and demand outstripping supply. Ms McAllan said she is considering introducing schemes to help first time buyers but could not give details on what this would look like or when this would be introduced. 'I'm looking at all of that." the cabinet secretary said, "It's incredibly difficult and yet it means so much in terms of financial security in somebody's life so I want to help bridge that gap and I want to be fleet of foot on that as well.' Ms McAllan also said the Lands Building and Transaction Tax, described as a 'highly economically damaging tax' by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, could be an 'important tool' for first time buyers if 'carefully handled'. Anas Sarwar claimed the planning system is holding back the Scottish economy. (Image: PA) The housing secretary also said she is looking into the practice of 'flipping' - taking accommodation labelled as temporary and making it permanent. 'It's worth saying that a lot of the families in temporary accommodation just now, it's not necessarily unsuitable," she said, "A lot of it will be council or social housing but by the very nature of being temporary, it's not acceptable so that will be something that I'm really focused on. 'We've also got the Housing Bill going through just now so I'm challenging my team to say we've got the opportunity of primary legislation here. 'I don't want to get to the other side of this bill and be told we needed primary legislative power for other measures we wanted to put in place.' Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar recently claimed the planning system is holding back the Scottish economy as he pointed to development applications taking 58 weeks on average to be processed in Glasgow but only 18 weeks in Manchester. READ MORE: Responding to his comments, Ms McAllan said she understands how planning can be both an 'enabler and inhibitor of action'. 'I want it to be an enabler and my colleagues and I are doing a lot of work on planning reform and looking at support needed for local authorities to clear backlogs', Ms McAllan said, adding that she does not think it is appropriate for the Scottish Government to 'go over the head of local authorities' when it comes to planning application decisions. Working alongside her colleague and public finance minister Ivan McKee, the cabinet secretary said they are developing a plan to provide more support to local authorities to help them move through planning applications more quickly. The Scottish Government has invested £40 million this year into supporting councils to acquire homes in order to get people out of temporary accommodation. The cabinet secretary hopes this will free up 1,000 homes in Scotland this year alone. Ms McAllan said she is 'proud' of the government's record on housing. She said: 'We have consistently invested highly in affordable homes in Scotland to the point now where proportionately the availability of social homes in Scotland is 47% higher in England and 73% higher in Wales. 'But the situation that we are in just now is extremely strained."