THE Scottish government is “out of excuses” on the housing emergency after its £3.4 billion budget boost, Labour said today.

Pressure has been building on SNP ministers after they voted to slash affordable housing budgets by £200 million last year — amounting to 26 per cent, before going on to declare a national housing emergency as homelessness soared to record levels.

As the Scottish government prepares to publish its draft budget, Scottish Labour housing spokesman Mark Griffin has called on the SNP to plough the £3.4bn boost in Scottish government funding — from Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s recent Budget — into turning the situation around.