Brexit means Brexit, which means what?

This month has been quite the month. Our First Minister Nicola Sturgeon became the first serving foreign head of government to address the Upper House of the Irish Parliament.

Of course, on Brexit we have seen The Scottish Government lodge through the Lord Advocate its intervention in the UK Government’s Supreme Court appeal against the ruling of the High Court on the requirement of MPS to vote to trigger Article 50.

We wait to hear the outcome of this work. Meanwhile we have seen that we can’t have our cake and eat it as a result of leaked papers from a meeting of the UK Government and, of course, that Whitehall Memo which says that Brexit means Brexit but the UK Government have absolutely no idea what Brexit means.

Closer to home, however, we continue to see the SNP delivering for Scotland right across our country, from the announcement that our Healthcare Workforce has reached a new record high and the ban on smoking in cars with children – putting the wellbeing of children and young people at the heart of our agenda – to the opening of the £53 million Ayrshire College Kilmarnock campus to our over £50 million investment in Scotland’s incredible TV and film industry.

Locally, of course, I have been working continually on the M8-M73-M74 Improvement project, addressing issues such as acoustic barrier fencing on areas close to housing and working to reopen slip roads where possible.

I continue to engage with the Scottish Government, ministers and officials to deliver for local people.

We also had the damaging news of the Kwik-fit insurance contact centre closure this month.

However, I have been in discussions with a range of interested parties to take the centre forward and I have met with one company in particular who are impressive, with a personfocussed ethos. My message to the workforce would be to hang on in there. There may be something worth waiting for if we can deliver.

I want to once again recognise the work of the Scottish Government, in particular the minister for business, innovation and enterprise Paul Wheelhouse MSP, who is doing a power of work on behalf of the workforce and my constituency.

This month has been busy for me and I have been privileged to work hard on these issues.

I’d like to thank you all for your continued support.

As this is the last report from me of 2016. I want to take the opportunity to say thank you for electing me as your SNP MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill in 2016. From me and my family to you and yours, I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.