North East Liberal Democrat MSP, Mike Rumbles, has congratulated eleven winners of the 2019 North East Scotland Food & Drink Awards.

From 1^st April, Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councils will be the second and third worst funded local authority areas in Scotland, according to the latest figures produced by the Scottish Parliament’s information centre.

Commenting on Scottish Labour’s proposals to extend free bus travel to everyone under the age of 26, Scottish Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Mike Rumbles MSP said: “The fall in bus use is a serious problem for Scotland’s public transport network.

“The Scottish Government has failed to take the initiative, and measures to reverse the decline are now a decade overdue. Ministers need to show more imagination to find new ways to encourage people to move from cars on to buses but solutions also have to be practical and affordable.

North East MSP Mike Rumbles has today revealed that firefighters are regularly travelling from Aberdeenshire and Moray to cover shifts in Aberdeen, with some brought in from as far afield as Inverness and Dundee.

A nationwide survey of bus services in Scotland, carried out by watchdog Transport Focus, has found that passengers in the North East are less likely to be ‘very satisfied’ with the performance of their local operators than elsewhere in the country.

Only 14.9% of patients referred to a NHS Grampian clinic for chronic pain received treatment within 18 weeks in the final quarter of 2018, with 260 people still on the waiting list for a first appointment 18 weeks after being referred, according to the latest figures published today by NHS Scotland’s Information Services Division.

1 in 8 Scotrail trains are still not arriving on time, according to PPM (Public Performance Measure) figures published for February, today.

Liberal Democrat MSP Mike Rumbles, who represents the North East of Scotland, has attacked Conservative MSPs for the region for failing to oppose the Scottish Government’s Local Government Finance Order in the Scottish Parliament this afternoon.

North East Liberal Democrat MSP Mike Rumbles called on Scottish Conservatives to drop their ‘paternalistic’ approach to rural policy making and take a seat at the table with producers, consumers and environmental organisations, during a debate in the Scottish Parliament this afternoon.

Only 41.1% of children referred to NHS Grampian and 49.5% referred to NHS Tayside for mental health issues received treatment within 18 weeks, according to the latest figures published today by NHS Scotland’s Information Services Division.