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Nationalists' debt anger
06/02/2006 16:24:00
Scottish ministers are not doing enough to combat Scotland's growing debt problems, the Scottish National Party (SNP) has claimed.
Kenny MacAskill, the party's justice spokesman, claimed that Scotland is "drowning" in personal debt, with measures adopted so far by the Scottish executive failing to curb the problem, the BBC reports.
A year ago the executive pledged to recruit 150 debt advisers under its debt arrangement scheme.
However, the SNP claims only 50 have been recruited so far, leading Mr MacAskill to argue that the scheme is only scratching the surface of the problem.
Instead, the SNP is calling for more focus on the lenders, with a voluntary code of conduct to encourage responsible lending.
The Scottish executive said that it planned to recruit more debt advisers for the debt arrangement scheme, which it claimed was already helping 96 Scots pay off debts worth £500,000.
Recent figures show that the number of personal bankruptcies in Scotland rose by over 50 per cent last year, hitting a record high.
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