THAT’S it then, 2020 is officially history and I think I can confidently say that I speak for us all when I say thank goodness for that.

It was a horrible year where our basic freedoms were put to test; not being able to see friends or family, keeping away from giving loved ones a hug and heck not even been able to go for pint!

But as we move into the new year we do have some hope and light at the end of the horrendous tunnel we’ve all been going through.

While I know the next few months will be tough we must keep in mind that the end is in sight with both the Pfizer and Oxford vaccines being rolled out, this gives us great hope and joy that this horrible pandemic will be over soon.

And as we reflect on the year gone by let me once again take this opportunity to thank every one of our key workers for the amazing job you did during this pandemic – running towards danger while the rest of us were ordered to stay at home.

You are the true heroes of 2020 and we’ll never be able to show our gratitude fully for the job you have done.

Let me also say thank you to you, the people of Glasgow, because you came through for our city this year in its darkest times.

When ordered to you stayed at home, when asked to wear a mask you did so and when asked to keep away from family you also obliged because we all know the seriousness of the virus.

We all, as a city, proved that our motto means more than slick PR – it embodies our spirit as People (really do) Make Glasgow.

Away from coronavirus, 2021 will also offer us an opportunity to vote on our report card for Nicola Sturgeon’s nationalist government - a government which has been in charge since 2007 and is fast running out of ideas and the energy to tackle the really big issues of the day.

Just four days ago we finally put an end to the Brexit question but if it was up to Nicola we’d have to rerun the questions of the past again.

I want to ensure we focus on the day to day issues in 2021 and beyond, not further separation.

Then for the council my Conservative Group and I will use 2021 to again highlight the scandalous and utterly incompetent SNP administration who are already fighting amongst themselves like rats in a sack after less than four years in office.

The city has lost confidence in the council leader and so has her own group so as we move forward I’ll continue to hold her accountable.

This year brings us some hope that we can finally put decisions of the past behind us.

I’ll lay out in the next few weeks the Conservative Group’s proposals for Glasgow’s budget in February and I’ll also be standing for Holyrood in May offering our city a fresh start.

As I said the next few months will be hard, but let’s keep the faith and together we can make sure 2021 is a year we can all be proud of.