LAST week, the council announced plans for a Covid-19 Recovery Group to steer the city’s response to the profound economic shock that has accompanied the public health crisis.

I was pleased to hear the council leader say that the goal must be a fairer, more inclusive and more sustainable city – but to get there it is vital that we hear from a broad range of voices, including those with direct lived experience of the inequalities which have been exposed by the coronavirus.

It cannot be stated enough that the current crisis has impacted disproportionately on people with existing vulnerabilities – those in precarious work and housing, those reliant on inadequate social security, those from migrant backgrounds, those who are already physically or emotionally isolated and those who routinely experience discrimination. Any response which excludes these voices will be inadequate.

So it was right that representatives of trade unions and the third sector were belatedly added to the initial membership of “weel-kent” faces from business and academia. But their inclusion must be about more than box-ticking. There must be real weight given to their members’ experiences and we all have a duty to listen to those who have suffered most on the frontline of this pandemic.

I’ve previously written about the opportunity to be radical in our response. How ideas to universally secure people’s basic incomes or services are gaining traction. How we can harness the chance to drive a major shift towards active travel. Green councillors have in the past made the case for a wellbeing economy, which moves away from a narrow focus on GDP, and we’ve also set out a vision for a Scottish Green New Deal – investing massively in the low carbon transition. The council’s recent economic strategy was a missed opportunity to embed these ideas.

It is clear that we need a different focus – not just on short-term recovery, but on rethinking an economic system that has long ceased to be fit-for-purpose. A system which has caused climate breakdown and widened gaps of wealth, income and power. Greens will keep making the case in the weeks and months ahead for a truly fairer, more inclusive and sustainable Glasgow.

Opposition councillors now have a regular opportunity to raise issues at weekly leader’s briefings, which have been set up to scrutinise council decisions while many of our normal democratic structures are suspended. This week we discussed issues for the Neighbourhoods department and I pressed for temporary measures to widen pavements and install pop-up cycle lanes, and raised the difficulties some people with additional needs are having accessing our parks and open spaces. I hope we can make progress on all these issues very soon.

On Monday, it is the turn of the Health and Social Care Partnership. Many people have raised concerns over the lack of testing and PPE in care homes and the perception that people with Covid-19 are being allowed to die in community settings when we have capacity to help them in our ICUs. Greens health spokesperson Alison Johnstone has led calls in the Scottish Parliament for all health and care staff to be routinely tested as part of a rigorous test, trace, isolate strategy. These are vital issues right now and if there are concerns you’d like me to raise please get in touch.