ON Saturday I was delighted to be selected by local Labour Party members as our candidate for the Inverclyde East Ward at next year’s council’s elections.

The new three member ward is made up of part of the existing larger four member Inverclyde East Ward, which I have represented since 2007.
My delight at being selected is tempered by the difficult position my party currently finds itself in.

Squeezed between the all-conquering SNP and a resurgent Scottish Tory Party, now is not an easy time to be a Labour Party candidate for any level of government. We are struggling to be heard as too many people in Scotland still view their politics through the prism of the 2014 independence referendum.

The SNP are seen as the champions of the independence movement and the Tories as defenders of the Union.

The truth of course is that the Tories have done more than any party – including the SNP – to drive Scots towards independence.

Any hope of a return to ‘normal’ politics was dashed by the outcome of the EU referendum.

The debate over the terms of ‘Brexit’ has unfortunately reignited the constitutional debate.

There is a real danger that May’s council elections will be dominated by the constitution rather than a debate over which parties or individuals are best placed to run local services.

Indeed the leader of Inverclyde’s SNP Group is on record as saying that for his party winning control of councils across Scotland is the next step on the march to independence.

A re-run of 2014 would suit both the SNP and the Tories. That way they can avoid debating the looming cuts to council services as a result of the policy choices both are making on taxation and public expenditure.

Labour is the only party in Scotland that is offering a real alternative to these cuts.

Labour is the only party in local government that can stand up to both the Tories at Westminster and the SNP at Holyrood. Unlike other parties, Labour councillors always put our communities before party loyalty.

In September 2014 many traditional Labour supporters, including some party members, voted ‘Yes’. One of them was my good friend and long-time party colleague Dan Sharpe from Port Glasgow.

Frustrated at the prospect of further years of Tory rule, Dan saw independence as a means to building the better society we have both campaigned for all our adult lives.

I took a different view, however there is much more that unites than divides us.

We both agree that the Labour Party is the most progressive force in local, Scottish and UK politics and that Labour governments and Labour councils have done more than any others to advance the causes of social justice and equality.

I was pleased therefore on Saturday to receive Dan’s backing as Labour’s candidate for Inverclyde East.

He knows that if I am elected I will work as hard as I can to defend and improve local services, create the opportunities for all our citizens, young and old, to realise their potential, and build the fairer, just society we both believe in.