It is astonishing when watching the recent debate in the House of Commons on the vote of ‘no confidence’ in the UK Government, to witness the Prime Minister not only trying to rewrite recent political history but also attempting to defend the record of a complacent, out of touch Government.

The need for change and a new direction for Scotland and the UK is self-evident. But it looks either like no change with Rishi Sunak or a Poundland Margaret Thatcher wannabe in Liz Truss.

It’s hardly no choice at all but our dysfunctional political system even allows for our Prime Minister to be on a series of jollies and sorties in his final days in office.

But let us not be complacent and think that it is only the Tories behaving in a manner of impervious neglect. 

Here in Scotland we have witnessed the First Minister claiming to have no time to visit a key Glasgow homeless project operating at Hielanman’s Umbrella, yet able to attend the recent British Open at St Andrew’s along with her very own personal photographer. 

We even had the obligatory photograph of the First Minister gazing over the crowds at the event ever thankful to them for allowing her to grace them with her presence.

Meanwhile over a range of policy areas the Scottish Government has failed to deliver on the promises they have made. 

They have had 15 years in power and are nowhere near finding a replacement for council tax or even progressing fairer funding for councils like Glasgow.

The First Minister has even dumped the flagship policy on improving education and tackling educational attainment and inequality.

There is little or no area of government policy that is not underachieving, whether it be NHS waiting times or the delivery of new ferries for the islands of Scotland.

At a city council level a similar story is evident too. 

Only last week the hapless SNP convenor for our cleansing services was pilloried by Glasgow Times readers and the wider public for his initiative on asking members of the public to do the job of clearing litter from our streets. 

No wonder the letters page was full of people asking what they pay their council tax for.

Labour has been identifying for a number of years now the need for a total rethink on how we clean up our city. 

The confidence that the people of Glasgow have in the quality of our cleansing services has been diminishing in every year of the SNP’s stewardship of Glasgow. 

We believe a new partnership has to be formed with the staff in our cleansing services with a key commitment to invest in frontline services and to put boots on the ground. Building a strategy for a cleaner Glasgow rather than using staff as a photo prop and a political press release.

The wider concerns of Glaswegians about the pressures on cost of living, the need for fairness in pay negotiations and the quality of our public services needs to be reflected by the conduct of our senior politicians wielding power in the City Chambers, the Scottish Parliament and the House of Commons.

To date none of them have covered themselves in glory. 

If they continue to be complacent, we in Scottish Labour are ready to show what can be done.