Somehow the party that came third is running Stirling Council

CLACKMANNANSHIRE AND DUNBLANE MSP

“The first will be last and the last, first”.

Now, I don’t think that Jesus had local government in Stirling in mind when he uttered those words, but the outcome of the first meeting of Stirling Council is certainly strange.

Labour could have taken the most democratic path and supported the SNP – the party with the biggest share of the vote and the largest number of seats, with whom they had been in coalition ahead of the election – or they could put Boris Johnson’s Tories into power.

But no, somehow the party that came in third – and a distant third at that - is ‘running’the council – although it isn’t hard to see the strings.

How did this happen? Well a tweet from the Stirling Tories tells the tale.

The real face behind the mask is seen: Labour are there because the Tories put them there.

How can Labour work hand in glove with the party whose Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, said it would be“silly” for the government to give people more help with the energy bills right now?

Are they so blinkered by their narrow constitutional view on keeping Scotland tied to the UK, that they allow themselves to be puppets, their strings being pulled by the party of Brexit, the Bedroom Tax and Partygate?

For the SNP, independence for Scotland is about potential and opportunity, it is about becoming a normal country with normal powers, a positive influence on the world stage, empowering our people and taking responsibility for our own future.

From the Labour Party’s twisted perspective, even the prospect of offering the Scottish people the opportunity to choose that path is something to be so feared that they will deliver their voters into the hands of Thatcher’s inheritors.

For all my despair at Labour’s thinking, my real anger is reserved for the Conservatives.

The response to the cost of living crisis has been a real tale of two Governments

By the end of this year, the five family benefits being paid by the Scottish Government will be worth more than £10,000 by the time an eligible family’s first child turns six, and more than £9700 for every subsequent child. That is £8200 more than is available for children in England and Wales.

In addition, the Scottish child payment will lift an estimated 50,000 children out of relative poverty in 2023-24. That support is real and shows the benefits that are coming to local people because of the Scottish Government’s interventions.

Unfortunately, however, it is the Westminster

How can Labour work hand in glove with the party whose Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, said it would be “silly” for the government to give people more help with the energy bills right now?

Government that has access to the economic levers that could make a real difference – but refuses to use them.

It’s not just that they have refused to reverse the Universal Credit cut, or think again on National Insurance changes, or follow the Scottish Government’s lead in increasing benefits by six per cent.

It is not that they can’t help, it is that they won’t. And that is the cost of living with Westminster.