It’s raining leaflets, leaflets .. it must be a wintery election

You are not supposed to agree with this column.

What's the point in reading only things you agree with?

I study our opponent's leaflets and press releases with an avidity I sometimes deny my own political party's publications.

And I encourage you to do the same. Step outside your comfort zone and learn.

But it's the kind of thin gruel that even a starving Oliver Twist would pass on a second helping of. That's this election.

All I can find about the Tories election promises is that they are saying NO to something. And the "word" that follows NO on their posters and leaflets is not even in any dictionary I have ever opened. How can one communicate using a word only political geeks use?

And NO is such an unpleasant word isn't it? It is often one of the first words used by an infant. Often before "daddy" or "mama". But definitely one the proud parent grates their teeth at hearing.

While the infant first deploys a word emphatic - NO - they soon move to a word interrogative - WHY?

So let's. Because normally any party in their tenth year of government would be trumpeting their achievements. Filling their leaflets with the words "better", "new", "more" to draw attention to their time in office. And encouraging you to return to their political "shop" for repeat buys. So WHY are they not?

The window of Tory achievements is far from empty. But it's filled with "achievements" they'd rather you forgot.

Universal Credit started off as a widely supported idea that involved making it simpler for those who needed support from the social security system to get what they need when they needed it.

And every one of us will use social security - even Tories. Do you know anyone who turns down their state pension?

But what started as a good idea turned into a Tory opportunity to turn the screw on those in need - waiting times for money, reduced payouts, tighter rules, even the dying being ruled "fit to work".

And diverting the "savings" - which don't save anyone - to reduce taxes for the more well off.

So what else should be in the window?

Cut 20,000 police officers from the service down south. And then find crime rises. A primary school essay on public safety might have made that connection. So that's another "achievement" that needs to be hidden in the store at the back of the shop.

Or - shut the door on the vital workers that come here to keep our fish processing industries, our fruit farming, hospitality industries the huge successes that they are.

So read everything that comes into the house, especially if you don't expect to agree with it. You might even find a few positive reasons to vote in a particular way. But it's unlikely you will find a positive reason to vote in anything where the big word on the cover, inside and on the back is - NO.

Standing up for the North-East

Following the constant uncertainty at the top of government in Westminster it is more important than ever to ensure the interests of the North-East are accounted for.

Better health care for the North-east has always remained a top priority since my election. Locally having access to the best quality health care has not been without its frustrations with practice closures and mergers.

That is why I am delighted to welcome £9.34million of Scottish Government funding this week to improvements to GP practices. This money will provide an upgrade to premises and IT systems.

It’s a substantial investment by the Scottish Government which will support GPs, the wider primary care workforce and most importantly the local communities they serve.

These upgrades will help to see continued improvements to the delivery of high-quality patient care, including the continued deployment of Attend Anywhere in our remote and rural areas.

It’s also part of a wider commitment to increase general practice funding by £250 million by 2021 as part of an extra investment of £500 million per year for primary care funding.

This funding together with the wider reform programme will mean additional staff working in primary care, providing better services for patients and allowing them to see the right person at the right time.

At a time when UK politics appears to be lurching from chaos to crisis, the Scottish Government is delivering funding that will help local communities in real terms.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Tories are guilty of sheer hypocrisy after their latest flip flop on Scotland’s vital fisheries sector.

The MPs were prepared to sell-out the industry by backing Boris Johnson’s extreme Brexit deal.

Scottish Tory MP Luke Graham last week admitted that there, in fact, would be negotiations and concessions from the UK over fishing quotas with the EU post-Brexit – despite repeated pledges by the thirteen Scottish Tory MPs that Scotland would have full control over its fisheries if Scotland left the EU.

In the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, the Scottish Tories repeatedly claimed that crashing out of the EU would be good for Scotland's fisheries.

In reality - and by their admission - now there would need to be further negotiations and concessions for the fishing sector.

This contradicts everything the Scottish Tories have said about Scotland's fisheries - they prove time and time again that the Tories simply cannot be trusted to deliver for our vital food and drink sector that employs so many people in this constituency.

Rather than standing up for the industry, they are instead preparing to sell it out simply to further their narrow self-interest and political careers.

The SNP will always stand up for Scotland’s fishing sector while other parties fail. Only with our own seat at the EU table as an independent nation can Scotland negotiate public policy tailored around Scotland’s crucial fishing industries.