ALTHOUGH I was not born when Thatcher was in power, I grew up seeing what her years in power did to the communities I now represent.

Some may argue that Glasgow was never the same after Thatcher, the devastation she created impacted generations of people – decimation of communities, the wiping out of vital industry, the doubling down of anti-worker legislation that has only been strengthened by recent Conservative prime ministers and using our city as part of her wider poll tax experiment. A catastrophic legacy from a Tory government that Glaswegians will never forget or forgive.

Now, three decades on, the people of Glasgow are subject to Thatcherite experiments again. But it’s not only the Tories this time – the comparison is also being made with the attitude of the council’s SNP leader, Susan Aitken.

Under Susan Aitken’s leadership we continue to see communities ignored with many across the city still waiting for updates on when vital local services like sports facilities and libraries will re-open. At first there was talk of “relocation”, a “merging of services” and even “a community consultation in every neighbourhood” on the change of service – all of that seems to have disappeared, replaced with the faux community empowerment initiative which we know as People Make Glasgow Communities.

Fast track community asset transfer which allows the council to wash their hands of any liability if things go wrong. Local people are clear, they want to have more say on how their facilities are run, they have brilliant ideas that would ensure the community is at the heart of any future decisions, but they also know they deserve better than what is currently being proposed.

Council bosses even have the gall to claim that palming off liability for venues and services to communities is part of their “open government agenda”.

On this administration’s watch, cleansing workers are being bitten by rats, having to deal with increased amounts of waste with reduced numbers and outdated vehicles causing the morale of the workforce to fall to rock bottom.

We are just weeks away from COP26 when the world’s eyes will be on Glasgow, our communities are fighting to save venues and workers are threatening to take strike action, action which we know is the last resort, because they feel that no-one is listening to them on the state of our city.

Susan Aitken has shown time and time again that she has no ambition for Glasgow and is completely content with undermining the role of local government to transform neighbourhoods – dismissing the work of local councils as “municipal paternalism” and compared those raising concerns about the ongoing waste crisis to the far-right.

This administration is quite happy to see our city run into the ground, unwilling to demand better from the SNP and Greens in Holyrood who have short changed Glasgow for far too long. It’s time our city got the funding it deserves and an administration willing to fight for it.

Next May we have a chance to make that happen. There is only one party who can beat the SNP, so whilst the Tories in Glasgow want to fight it out in opposition – Labour will be doing all we can to replace this failing SNP administration because we believe Glasgow deserves better.