THE Scottish Government has hit back at claims made by Dumbarton’s MSP after she accused the SNP of deepening inequality in housing across West Dunbartonshire.

Ms Baillie said the SNP had made it harder for young people in the area to find affordable homes, after the SNP scrapped the “Help To Buy” scheme.

In a budget statement last week, Kate Forbes also announced a cut of almost £268million to the More Homes budget, an affordable housing supply programme.

Ms Baillie said: “We are in the midst of a housing crisis in Scotland and yet the SNP responds with more cuts and by completely scrapping help for first-time buyers without offering any replacement.”

Commenting, the Dumbarton MSP said: “The SNP’s cuts risk deepening inequality in our already unequal housing market and freezing an entire generation of young people out.

“It’s all too clear that the SNP’s cuts will prevent thousands from getting their foot on the property ladder and will deny many a warm, affordable home.”

A spokesperson for housing minister Kevin Stewart told the Reporter Ms Baillie was wrong to claim that there was no help for first-time buyers.

They said: “We will take no lectures from Jackie Baillie given Labour’s dismal failure on housing when they were in office.

“The Tory government at Westminster has cut Scotland’s housing funding by £218m cut in housing capital grant and almost £321m cut in housing financial transactions – a 66 per cent cut.

“Despite these cuts we have protected support for the housebuilding sector through retaining the Help to Buy smaller developers scheme with a budget of £14m.

“The First Home Fund will re-open for 2021-22 applications on April 1 with a budget of £60m, and the Open Market Shared Equity scheme will continue with a budget of £44m.

“A further £10m will fund applications already approved for the main Help to Buy scheme.

“Together this package of support will provide funding to assist over 4,000 households to buy a home.

“The Scottish Government has and continues to provide a range of support for home-ownership/first time buyers and since 2007 our shared equity schemes have helped more than 35,000 households into home ownership.”