Renfrewshire must top the agenda
It’s great to be back as your MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North - and not just because I can carry on with my column in the Express.
Any politician who doesn’t feel awed and humbled at the simple power of democracy shouldn’t be in politics.
Despite everything, we are still incredibly lucky in this country that we, collectively, have the power to decide whether our elected representatives should stay or go.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for our governments.
Despite the hype, the Tory vote fell in Scotland and half their MPs now face the reality of the hellish benefit system they helped to create.
Given their own manifesto was called “No to Indyref2”, it’s hard to see how their poor performance is anything other than a slap in the face for their extreme world view and their attempts to stop us choosing our own future.
Yet we are stuck with Boris Johnson and his collection of extremists for the foreseeable future as our relations with Europe are shredded even further and our welfare state is taken to the brink of destruction.
We saw during the campaign how low some within the Tory party will sink when confronted with the hard reality of what their agenda is doing to our society.
When shown a picture of a four-yearold boy forced to sleep on jackets at a Leeds hospital due to an English NHS in crisis, the Prime Minister’s response was to try to steal the reporter’s phone.
When the English Health Minister visited the hospital, instead of addressing the real concerns of many about their health service, his spin doctors fabricated a story of being assaulted, which they only backed down from once video emerged showing them to be liars.
That is the calibre of statesmen and women we are now to be ruled by.
And again Scotland is left at the mercy of a UK Government three quarters of us didn’t vote for.
This is why I welcome the debate that already appears to the taking shape within the Scottish Labour party about a fresh referendum on independence.
Senior MPs, MSPs, councillors and activists have all come forward to agree that, while they may not support independence, it should be for the Scottish people to decide that question, not the current occupants of Number 10.
Independence is not the sole domain of the SNP, and the more discussion and input we as a country have from all parts of politics about shaping our own future, the better.
There is at least a maturity about some of the statements now being made that was sorely lacking from the more excitable Corbynistas during the campaign itself.
That maturity was also shown by my Labour opponent in the contest, who conducted her campaign with dignity and respect, and if her party had more like her perhaps they wouldn’t be in the position they now find themselves in.
The next few months will be crucial for our country and for our public services, and I’ll be working alongside my colleagues old and new to make sure Scotland and Renfrewshire are top of the agenda.