Richard Leonard outlines plans for ‘biggest programme of reform in history of the Scottish Parliament’

Richard Leonard MSP - Image credit: Richard Leonard

Scottish Labour wants to carry out the “biggest programme of social and economic reform in the history of the Scottish Parliament”, Richard Leonard told delegates at the party’s spring conference.

In his first conference speech as Scottish Labour leader, Leonard set out plans for change that included bringing social care back fully into council control and capping private rents.

He said that transformation of social care “cannot rely on the market”, with private sector providers withdrawing and the care home sector in crisis.

“In my view in most cases local councils themselves may well be the best provider for this care,” he said.

He added: “So I want to make clear today, Scottish Labour’s policy going forward will not just be to support the principle of integrated health and social care – it will be to put that principle into practice.”

“So we will prioritise bringing care contracts back in to our local authorities – and for the avoidance of doubt we will bring care staff back into local council employment too.”

The vision for care services would mean investing in making social care a profession with a career path and a decent wage, he explained.

The Scottish labour leader also outlined his plans for a new rent restrictions act – nicknamed the Mary Barbour law, after the political activist and rent campaigner – to protect tenants and control rents.

The act would set out a points-based system based on factors such as size of the home, typical rents in an area and other factors such as the quality of the housing to categorise properties and set the maximum rent that could be charged.

It would also link rents to average wages and give tenants the power to challenge rents they considered unfair.

Labour has also said the law would ensure all homes meet minimum standards for energy efficiency and meet certain standards for mental and physical health and wellbeing.

Among the other policies outlined in Leonard’s speech was a commitment to build council houses again – possibly funded by investment from local government pension schemes, no new private finance deals if Labour is elected in Scotland and exploration of whether it is possible to bring existing private contracts back into the public sector.

He also pledged to bring train services back into public ownership “at the earliest opportunity” and capping the profits that private agencies make from the health service.

He finished by calling on the party to rededicate itself to the "cause of democratic socialism” and lead “with conviction”.