Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, is calling on the SNP Government to provide urgent rent refunds to students who cannot return to their Musselburgh accommodation as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.
On Friday, Nicola Sturgeon announced that students who had been planning on returning to their accommodation over the next week should refrain from travelling. Instead students are to stay at home until at least the end of February.
For many undergraduates at Queen Margaret University, this announcement means that they will be paying up to £144 per week for a room in university accommodation that will lie empty for weeks.
The Scottish Conservative MSP has said that the Scottish Government have a responsibility to refund students who are paying digs.
Mr Balfour said:
“The First Minister made this announcement on Friday, just days before some students would have been travelling back to their term-time accommodation in Musselburgh.
“Students are left feeling anxious about what this will mean for both their studies and their finances, with many of them losing out on part-time work, due to lockdown, that would have helped them to pay rent.
“The SNP Government owes it to students to refund the rent that they are paying over the weeks that they have been asked to stay at home.
“This action must be taken quickly to prevent students from being out-of-pocket.”
