Railway station upgrade boost to M’well

In last week’s Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced a raft of new measures which will benefit us here in Scotland.

From £800 million to promote growth and jobs to an increase in the National Minimum Wage to £7.50 that will give a boost to working people across North Lanarkshire.

Also announced was a City Deal for Stirling, meaning that every city in Scotland is on course to have one, putting more power in the hands of local people in Scotland.

I recently attended a presentation by the Stirling City Deal team and found it very impressive; Stirling’s future will be set by local people working together for the good of that community.

This is how it should be done- not forcing councils to do things like raise council tax against their will.

I raised in debate last week our own, local, Glasgow City Deal, and although there are some good projects planned such as the modernisation of Motherwell railway station, there are some controversial plans such as the Holytown Road link which I do not support.

There has been no justification of this and other schemes - it is clear there is little accountability.

The City Deal, if done right, presents a huge benefit to the local economy and to our local businesses who should be given priority in the procurement process.

I have asked my Labour colleagues to support a motion calling on greater accountability and governance for Glasgow City Deal to put more power in the hands of our community.

But so far they have refused to support this.

Now we have had the Autumn Statement we will shortly see the Scottish Government’s budget.

Given that the SNP have not put a single piece of legislation before parliament in over half a year, I await with interest to see what they will say their spending priorities are and how they will achieve them.