LAST week I met with Chief Superintendent, Roddy Irvine, who is the area police commander for Forth Valley. 

I took the opportunity to raise a number of issues with him which have been raised with my office over recent months – including police resourcing for Clackmannanshire, increased incidents of anti-social behaviour in Alloa town centre and cases of dangerous and illegal parking. 

I was pleased to receive a firm commitment from CS Irvine to addressing these issues. It was also good to hear about some of the other areas of work being carried out locally.  This is work that’s not always visible to the public but which is key to delivering safer communities such as cyber-crime and sextortion.

One of the biggest issues of our time is the falling trust of people in politicians and in (all) political parties.  The Labour Party had the chance to start recovering that trust with their huge win at the recent general election.

Some of us doubted that Labour would do that. Indeed, just days before the election, I said, in an interview with the BBCs News at Ten that Labour were perpetrating the biggest election fraud in my lifetime by denying awareness of the disastrous state of the UK finances, and the consequences for public services.  We are now seeing the consequences of that ‘fraud’.

This column will be published on Wednesday 30th October – the same day the UK Labour Government will publish its first budget. But instead of delivering the “change” promised, the budget looks set to tread the same path of austerity laid down by the Tories.

The upcoming UK budget brings worrying signs that the Labour Chancellor intends to continue down a path of austerity cuts, tax hikes for local businesses, and a disgraceful removal of winter fuel payments for 900,000 Scottish pensioners. These policies would hit our communities hard, hurting families, pensioners, and small businesses across Scotland.

Despite promising to defend Scotland’s interests, Scottish Labour has shown a pattern of failing to act when it matters most. Not only have they supported the removal of winter fuel payments, but they also voted to uphold the cruel two-child cap on benefits, which pushes many Scottish children into poverty. On top of that, Scottish Labour failed to prevent a 10% increase in energy bills, despite a promise to deliver a £300 cut. Such decisions are hurting the very people Scottish Labour pledged to protect.

I find it deeply troubling that, while senior Cabinet ministers openly oppose these austerity plans, Scottish Labour has remained silent. Now is the time for them to show up for Scotland’s communities – as they promised they would.

It has been widely reported that the Chancellor will use Wednesday’s budget to increase the National insurance rate for employers and lower the threshold for when they start paying the tax – a move will be the latest broken election pledge by Keir Starmer’s government that will hit Scottish workers in the pocket in the form of lower wages and fewer jobs

The question is simple: will Scottish Labour MPs fight against cuts to essential services, tax hikes on local businesses, and the removal of winter fuel payments? If they’re serious about the promises they made, then they must break their silence and stand against these damaging austerity policies in the UK budget.