CAMPAIGNERS have taken their calls for permanent controls on Scotland’s spiralling rents to the doorstep of the First Minister’s rent-free residence.

Just weeks after John Swinney took up his grace-and-favour home at Bute House in Edinburgh’s historic New Town, protesters from Scotland’s leading tenants’ union Living Rent have urged him to take action to halt crippling rent increases across the country that have seen Scottish rents rocket by 62 per cent over the last decade.

In Glasgow — where rents have grown by a fifth in a year and almost doubled in a decade — members from across the city rallied in Govan at the statue to Mary Barbour, one of the leaders of the 1915 rent-strikes movement which won controls in place until scrapped by Margaret Thatcher in 1988.

While the union won a temporary rent cap last year, it has now expired and Living Rent’s national campaign’s officer Ruth Gilbert has warned that “rents are out of control.”

She said: “Tenants desperately need this government to introduce a robust system of rent controls tied to the property, not the tenancy, which protects all tenants.

“The new Housing Bill is a key opportunity for proper rent controls and our presence today demonstrates the importance of it.

“The Scottish government urgently needs to reverse its cuts to affordable housing, and commit to strong, permanent rent controls.

“Without this, tenants will continue to be forced to put up with unaffordable housing.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “There is no one solution to addressing rent affordability and our commitment to introducing a longer-term system of rent controls for Scotland is one measure being taken forward in the Housing Bill.”

The “call for views” on the Housing (Scotland) Bill runs until May 24 and can be found here.