Last week, in the House of Commons, I voted against the UK Government’s so-called “Charter for Fiscal Responsibility” – I did so for two very simple, yet vitally important, reasons: the consequences would be bad for Scotland and bad for the people and communities of Renfrewshire.

It is called the “Charter for Fiscal Responsibility”, but it couldn’t be further from the definition of “responsible” because this is the latest attempt by a cuts-obsessed UK Government to impose a state of perpetual austerity in the UK, as the Bill committed future governments to run a surplus above and beyond the deficit being eliminated.

The UK Government’s latest austerity plans are of choice, not necessity. The undeniable truth is that these plans are completely unnecessary, entirely ideologically-driven and show complete disregard for the devastating impact that these cuts will have on our families and communities for generations to come.

The Tories’ austerity programme has sought to balance the books on the backs of the poor, the most vulnerable and average Scots who only want to get on in life and secure the best possible life for their families – and the Tories impose these cuts with the cheap lip-service of “all in this together”.

In doing so, the UK Government are ignoring the democratic expression that the people of Renfrewshire and Scotland made at the Westminster election – if they continue to pursue this reckless austerity agenda, they must know that they do so at their own peril.

Domestic violence is an injustice that should be consigned to the history books The SNP met in Aberdeen for our 81st annual conference this weekend to discuss issues of importance to the people of Scotland and explore how we best govern Scotland for our people.

At our biggest conference ever, we discussed how the Scotland Bill should be strengthened to deliver more powers, how we protect our public services, the challenges of climate change, how we tackle food poverty in our country, fair work and the need for the living wage, as well as the EU Referendum, cuts to social security and the UK Government’s assault on the rights of workers.

I was pleased to speak on the motion ‘Supporting Scotland’s Women’ at conference, where I focused on the section of the motion that detailed violence against women.

It is, quite frankly, ridiculous that we are still having to campaign for the end of violence against women which is perpetrated by men – but we have to because 60,000 incidents were reported to Police Scotland this year alone.

That is why I have welcomed the rolling out of Claire’s Law – essential legislation that allows women to know if their partner has a violent past.

But we can, we must and we will do better. As a father of two young daughters, it’s not a Scotland that I want my girls to grow up living in. I pledge, as your MP, to never condone or remain silent about men’s violence against women - both physical and mental.

It is an injustice that deserves to be consigned to our history books.