Emma Jackson on the change that Scotland needs
Better jobs. Better investment in life's essentials. Better social security. Scotland needs change. And we need it now.
In Citizens Advice Bureaux across Scotland, our advisers witness daily the depths of harm that hundreds of thousands of us are forced to endure. Last year alone, our network provided life changing advice to almost 200,000 people facing impossible circumstances.
Families cut off from life's essentials, frightened of what the future will bring. People who are hungry, or are without a home, or sacrificing meals, dreading winter due to heating costs, or struggling to get by on wages that don’t cover household costs.
Enough. After more than a decade of austerity and perma-crisis too many of us are feeling tired, angry, isolated, and disillusioned. We’re not prepared to continue to accept this.
In a just and compassionate society, all of us should have a warm, safe place to call home. A decent income that at least covers the essentials. Buses and trains that get us where we need to go. Those of us who are elderly, ill or disabled getting the right support and care to live with dignity and respect.
That’s why the Citizens Advice network is proud to be joining civic society organisations, charities, trade unions and faith groups to demand better. We’ll put our feet on the street and march with thousands of people on Saturday 25th to march in Edinburgh and demand that UK and Scottish politicians make the changes we need for a society where all of us can thrive.
Our network will be marching for Andy and people like him. Over the last seven years, Andy’s faced repeated problems with his rents, threatened homelessness, and the repair and maintenance of his social housing. The CAB has been his safety net at each point of crisis, but the failure of the system means that these crises keep happening – and will keep happening unless there’s real change.
We're also marching for charities across Scotland - our volunteers and advisers in every corner of the nation work in difficult circumstances supporting people facing even worse. People are coming to bureaux with ever more challenging circumstances, when they have nowhere left to turn. It is not right that this level of need is falling to charities - this is state failure and change needs to happen.
Change for the better happens when people stand together and demand it. The issues that our communities are being forced to endure have not happened by accident. These can be repaired and rebuilt. Something better is possible.
Our politicians can make the right decisions today to build a better future for all of us. Better jobs for everyone who needs one, with fair conditions and wages that pay the bills. Better investment for life’s essentials, like affordable homes, good public transport, a thriving natural environment and strong public services. Better social security so that all of us have a foundation for the future.
This is the change that Scotland needs.
If you agree, why not join us at the march and rally in Edinburgh on Saturday to use your voice to say Scotland demands better? https://www.scotland-demands-better.com
Emma Jackson is Head of Social Justice at Citizens Advice Scotland.
This column was first published in the Herald.
