Change. That’s what Labour promised when campaigning in last week’s General Election. 

After 14 years of brutal Tory austerity and decline, the country finally has a Labour government.

Here in Scotland, the party has won back many of the seats lost to the SNP in the 2015 election, including the North Ayrshire and Arran seat I represented at Westminster from 2005 to 2015. 

This mandate gifted by the public must not, and will not, be taken for granted.

No party has a divine right to represent Scotland at Westminster. The SNP has now discovered this, with voters sending a clear message they have felt let down after 17 years of government and a succession of scandals.

The Scottish Government says it has sought to ameliorate Tory austerity in key areas, particularly welfare, but the truth is many of the key failures south of the border are also failures here. Devolution has not been used to maximum effect. 

Almost one in six Scots are on an NHS waiting list. More than 100,000 houses lie empty during a housing emergency. Important climate targets are being missed. One in four children are in poverty.

In the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections, voters again have a chance to vote for change with Scottish Labour.

My Labour colleagues at Westminster will also be fighting tooth and nail for the people of Scotland as they a turn a page on the era of austerity and work for national renewal.

Within days, we’ve already seen evidence of this, with the immoral Rwanda scheme for asylum seekers scrapped, an industrial strategy already being laid out, and steps taken to repair the broken relationship with the Scottish Government that existed under the Tories.

The King’s Speech will be on July 17. 

Within the first 100 days of government, legislation for our New Deal for Workers, the country’s greatest advancement in workers’ rights in a generation, will be introduced.
Exploitative zero hour contracts will be banned, fire and rehire ended, sick pay and the minimum wage increased.

The government will set up a new publicly owned energy company, creating jobs and cutting energy bills across the country. And it will be based here in Scotland.

These are tangible changes which will make a difference to the lives of people across the whole country. I know Irene Campbell, our new MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, will be fighting for this area.

Working with Irene, I will be pushing for long-overdue jobs and investment after years suffered from years of deindustrialisation.

The General Election result offers real opportunities for Ayrshire. Things have unfortunately got worse over the last 14 years and the poverty and the lack of opportunities we see around us is shameful.

I look forward to working with communities across North Ayrshire for the changes which are needed to improve people’s lives.

I believe the election of a UK-wide Labour Government is the essential first step towards addressing some of the very serious challenges we face in our communities.