Scottish Budget The Scottish Budget has sold Renfrewshire short yet again. Every year Renfrewshire Council is £14 million short compared to the Scottish average. Since the SNP came to power, Renfrewshire has been put to the bottom of the Scottish funding table for mainland councils. In parts of Renfrewshire we have some of the worst statistics for health and deprivation, but this is being ignored. Why does this matter? The poor funding settlement means less money to spend on the vulnerable elderly and disabled. It means less to spend on the education of our children, and it means less to spend on our roads and pavements. It’s time Renfrewshire was given a fair deal.

Johnstone Buses There was understandable anger in Johnstone Castle and Cochrane Castle when McGill’s announced the axing of the 38 daytime service to these communities. Local residents made it clear that they wanted a service which linked these areas directly to Paisley as well as Corseford and Spateston. The local tenants and Residents groups organised a meeting, which I chaired, to put this across to McGill’s. Thankfully McGill’s listened and have agreed to a new twice hourly daytime service which links the four areas of Johnstone with the Town centre and Paisley. It’s not a perfect solution and many people are disappointed. Credit however, should be given to both local residents and McGill’s. It was local pressure and local anger which forced McGill’s to have a rethink and they did respond positively. There is a bigger lesson however. We can’t have communities across Renfrewshire left exposed to an unregulated bus market. It’s time for Alex Salmond to listen to the concerns of those ordinary Scots who rely on buses.

This week Last week saw a rare degree of consensus between the SNP and Labour over the Bedroom Tax. Both parties are opposed to this unfair and unjust penalty on vulnerable tenants. Both want it scrapped. The Scottish Government finally agreed to use its powers to the full and has allocated extra money to fund Councils and Housing Associations to compensate for the shortfall created by the Bedroom Tax. This means that no tenant in a socially rented home should face eviction or rent arrears solely because of this tax. It shows what can be done using the existing powers and money available to the Scottish Government, and the cooperation between Labour and the SNP was a welcome outbreak of common sense to do the right thing. Ultimately the Bedroom Tax needs to be abolished and I welcome the commitment of the Labour Party to do this if Labour wins next year’s General Election.