£100m social housing boost for Scottish builders

Up to £100m worth of social housing work will be brought forward by two years to prop up struggling housebuilders in Scotland.

The Scottish government has announced it will bring forward £60m of work earmarked for 2010-11 to start as soon as possible.

Another £40m of work could also be fast-tracked if the government can reach agreement with Scottish councils.

But Labour claims First Minister Alex Salmond has merely reversed a cut of £85m the government made in its affordable housing budget last year, according to the Scotsman.

Mr Salmond said Scotland’s economic outlook was not as bad as in other countries, despite around 4,500 building jobs predicted to go by the end of the year.

He said: “First, the Scottish economy continues to show encouraging signs of resilience.

“Second, Scotland has a government that, despite its limited economic powers, will take decisive action to strengthen our performance and prospects.

“We will not simply sit back and wait for conditions to get better.”