Keir Starmer must face “immediate pressure” if he becomes the next prime minister to ditch Tory spending plans and invest in housing across the UK, Patrick Harvie has said.
The Scottish Greens co-leader told the Record the need for urgent investment in new homes was “necessary down south and it’s necessary here as well”.
But he declined to say whether Scotland already faced a national housing emergency.
Harvie, the Scottish Government minister for tenants’ rights, also admitted recent cuts to Holyrood’s housing budget could cause “harm”.
SNP and Green MSPs in February voted through a £196m cut to spending on affordable housing for the year ahead.
The decision prompted a backlash from housing charities who warned it could make the country’s growing homelessness problem even worse.
It comes as four Scots councils have so far declared a housing emergency in their local areas in recent months, including Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The Scottish Government is now hoping a change in power at Westminster at the general election later this year could lead to an ease in cuts to public spending.
Rachel Reeves, Labour’s shadow chancellor, has previously hinted there would be an initial “injection of cash” if Starmer replaces Rishi Sunak as PM.
Asked if Scotland faced a housing emergency, Harvie said: “The picture is different across the country. Several places, including Glasgow, have declared a housing emergency.
“It’s for each local authority to understand the circumstances in their area and respond appropriately.
“There’s absolutely nobody in the Scottish Government who would have wished to have to handle the kind of cut to our capital budget that we have, and there’s no way of dealing with that without their being harm as a result.
“This is one of the reasons an incoming Labour government, if that’s what’s going to happen this year, needs to be under immediate pressure to drop Tory fiscal rules and drop their spending limits and allow the country to invest.
“It’s necessary down south and it’s necessary here as well. And housing is a very obvious area where everybody would want to see more investment.
“We have a good track record in investing in social housing in Scotland, more so than the rest of the UK. But that alone isn’t enough. We need to recognise the private rented sector has grown dramatically.
“There is a massive gap in the quality of what people get in the private and socially rented sector and we need to close that gap.”
Asked if the Scottish Government would use any extra money from Westminster on housing, Harvie added: “We’ve already made it clear that if there’s flexibility available, housing is one of the top priorities.”
Scottish Labour Housing spokesman Mark Griffin said “The Tories have been a disaster for Scotland, but the SNP-Green government cannot dodge responsibility for their own woeful record in government.
“Patrick Harvie’s desperate deflections can’t mask the fact it was his government that made the choice to slash the affordable housing budget.
“Scotland has been let down by two failing governments for too long, but at the next General Election voters can choose a fresh start with Labour.
“Even Patrick Harvie knows that only Labour can deliver the change Scotland needs.”
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