AS the summer months roll on it sometimes feels a bit surreal not being in the corridors of Holyrood.

It’s amazing just how quickly such an extraordinary place becomes your routine place of work.

Being an MSP is a huge honour. I recall vividly the first day in parliament, or the first FMQ, or the first speech. Daunting at first but eventually you find your feet and become more comfortable in the job in hand.

This being said, time spent not in Holyrood has given me a great opportunity to get out and meet businesses, charities and local residents from across the west region.

I know it often gets said, but it’s the local work that really makes this job a great one.

Whilst the outcome is not always what people expect upfront, I am genuinely chuffed to have helped so many through surgeries and “casework” this past year.

The problems, and their solutions, are as wide and varied as you could imagine but my team work extremely hard to help everyone who walks through my door or contacts my office.

I do encourage people to make use of the resource available to them from all elected officials both at constituency , regional and national level.

Your councillors , MPs and MSPs are there to assist you. Usually regardless of who or how you vote!

Whilst the Scottish summer has been so-so weather wise there is still much to celebrate in the west of Scotland. From the Millport country music festival to the Paisley 10K fun run.

I’ll be making good use of my time this summer to also meet with a number of key stakeholders across the transport sector to discuss railways, train lines, ferry services, airports and airlines. So please do contact me with any specific queries of this nature.

As the big picture politics, like Brexit and constitutional arguments, grab the national headlines I am often reminded that it’s the day-to-day things that politicians can do to help people that really matter.

Regardless of your politics, I think that’s something we all agree on.