IT is Christmas day and a family gathers around a table for their dinner. They are wearing woolly jumpers, hats, and gloves but they find that they are still freezing, shivering next to each other.

There are no presents for the children this year, only what has been donated to them by local charities. The Christmas dinner is the same, a series of donations from a local church.

Although this sounds like a scene from a Charles Dickens novel, it is in fact the harsh reality that many families across Glasgow face this festive season.

For all our progress since the Victorian times, we seem to be going backwards and at an alarming rate. I’m pretty sure that many of those experiencing acute hardship right now would not have believed this time last year that this fate awaited them. Last year, the economic waters didn’t seem quite so choppy.

Soaring inflation, rising interest rates, wages that have failed to keep up with inflation, and the compounded effects of over a decade of Tory austerity have all created a fierce storm which has left ordinary people shipwrecked.

Extortionate energy costs and increasing food bills have been major factors in pushing people towards destitution.

Over the past few months, the cost-of-living crisis has dominated my conversations with constituents and filled my email inbox. Particularly many people have contacted me with concerns about their rising energy bills.

The recent cold snap has us all – some much more than others – dreaming of anything other than a white Christmas.

The British government is fond of reminding us that the UK is one of the richest countries in the world, making it even more outrageous that an estimated 6.7 million households are now living in fuel poverty.

Sitting in the House of Commons, I’ve heard little recognition from the Tory benches of how Scotland is disproportionately impacted either.

Let me tell you, I spent the start of the week working in London and thought it was cold there but returning to Glasgow where temperatures had dipped to -10C was a shock to my system.

This energy crisis is the result of a perfect storm of the war in Ukraine, depleted gas storage levels, a reduction of gas supplies in Europe and a steep rise in the wholesale price of gas.

However, these explanations are now being used by the British Government as a scapegoat, so that they can escape taking responsibility for their lack of action.

They are hoping that we all blame these external factors and think that this is just one bad winter – there’s nothing that can be done.

But this is not true.

I know that it is hard to keep up with the comings and goings in Downing Street, with its revolving door of Prime Ministers and Chancellors, but each one has failed to take responsibility. In some cases, all they’ve done is make things much, much worse.

And as ever when government fails to act, charities are left to pick up the pieces. But, like families, charities have been pushed to their limits.

But saying this, it should not be up to the kindness of ordinary people to solely be supporting the poor and vulnerable this Christmas.

This charity is to be sincerely commended, but it also represents a failure of the state to support the poor.

The British Government is failing its citizens by not providing a safety net and an adequate social security system.

The measures to stall the energy crisis also do not go far enough.

More must be done by the Government in Westminster to prevent people from being pushed into poverty, with serious targeted support needed for those struggling the most.

The plans must also favour renewable energy, which is much cheaper, and provide us with much greater energy security than other forms which make us reliant upon other countries.

In Scotland, we have embraced renewables but with energy policy reserved to Westminster, we are being seriously limited in our ambition.

At this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions, the new SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn raised the cost of energy bills. Speaking directly to Rishi Sunak, he stated, “people are genuinely terrified. And that’s despite the fact that Scotland produces six times more gas than we consume, with some 80% of our electricity coming from low-carbon sources. Decades of failed UK energy and regulatory policy coming home to roost.”

I could not agree more.

When I look at the Scotland that we live in today I see great potential but also great poverty.

I want to see a Scotland where we are able to prioritise people over profits.

People may not agree with my politics but I make no apologies for believing that we can do better than this.

Stephen Flynn was absolutely correct about something else too – Scotland has the energy; we just need the power.