LAST week I used this column to highlight the SNP’s horrendous budget settlement that they lumped local councils all over the country with, resulting in yet another year of SNP cuts.

However, rightly, many ask week on week what I would do differently? What would a Conservative held Glasgow City Council look like? Just this week we started to get a glimpse of that when the Glasgow Conservatives started to unveil the first slate of our brilliant and talented council candidates ahead of May’s election.

Take John Daly, our Baillieston candidate, he’s a local lad to the East End of Glasgow who grew up in this area and stays there. John isn’t a typical politician though as he has spent his full professional career in teaching, helping to shape the minds of our young people.

He’s full of ideas on how we can transform our schools in Glasgow and create an education service that delivers for all Glaswegians, no matter their postcode.

Or Kim Schmulian, our Newlands/Auldburn candidate, she’s spent her life as a lawyer and working with numerous public bodies to protect our built heritage and environment.

Kim, like John, is coming to politics later in life to help give back to the city she now calls home. Her enthusiasm for protecting our city’s wonderful heritage and her knowledge of environmental issues through working with agencies like SEPA will be a huge asset for Glasgow City Council.

Take Faten Hameed, our East Centre candidate, who moved to Glasgow more than 35 years ago from Iraq and has spent her life championing the voice of the voiceless in the city.

Or Naveed Asghar, our Partick East/Kelvindale candidate, who has run numerous successful small businesses and grew up in the West End. Look at Bruce Whyte, our Langside candidate, who while having a successful career in sales has also been vocal in his local area of King’s Park, holding numerous office bearer roles.

These are just a select few of the brilliant candidates that the Glasgow Conservative and Unionist Association has selected to fight for our cause next May. They’ll oppose the SNP at every turn but also show their positive vision for what we can do differently.

Alongside our excellent incumbent Glasgow City Council Conservative councillors, this is a team ready to deliver.

A few weeks ago, we launched our Five Point Plan to Clean Up Glasgow, a fully costed and sensible plan that would solve our waste crisis. For those asking how we’d pay for it, have a look at our budget last year where we unashamedly focused on our cleansing service. In the next few months,

I’ll be launching other plans focused on creating jobs, delivering services, and fighting for Glasgow. Under my leadership, the Glasgow Conservatives won’t shy away from the tough decisions and call out the scandalous treatment of our city by Nicola Sturgeon and her failing SNP Government.

However, I understand the people of Glasgow want something to vote for not just against, an alternative to what Labour and the SNP have done to Glasgow. That’s what we started this week, to build a real alternative to the failed consensus that our city has had to live with for so long.

In the months to come we’ll unveil more candidates, plans and ideas to win for Glasgow. Together, we’ll clean up our city and win.