It is quite shocking to witness the way that the SNP in government in Scotland will use their majority to ignore evidence given to Scottish Parliamentary committees.  The most recent example of this is in relation to the Subordinate Legislation Committee’s scrutiny of the Welfare Reform Bill.  The Bill hands huge additional powers to Scottish [...]

I am pleased to give a little publicity to the new Shock Youth Gym, who are holding a fun day outside their premises at 14 Gartlea Road (at the old bus terminus).  All funds raised will go to St Andrew’s Hospice, which is great news. The event will take place on Monday 4th June (which [...]

The recent Queen’s Speech should have been a building block to the creation of a stronger economy with a focus on helping hard pressed families across the UK. Instead, the speech offered no hope to these families.  The Bills announced within the speech offered no hope to young people desperately seeking employment and did nothing [...]

I was recently contacted by a constituent asking me to support the National Autistic Society’s (NAS) ‘Undiscovered Workforce’ campaign. The campaign aims to support people with autism (including Asperger syndrome) into sustainable employment.  NAS research shows only 15% of people with autism are in full-time employment and 9% are in part-time employment, while 79% of [...]

I was joined recently by my colleague, Jim Murphy MP, during a visit to New Wellwynd church’s lunch club in Airdrie.  Many of the people there were senior citizens, and it soon became clear just how angry they were about the Government’s new granny tax.  Some 370,000 pensioners in Scotland will be affected by the [...]

In may I will be attending a charity football match at Airdrie Football Stadium.  The game kicks off at 7.15pm and will be raising money for Marys Meals and CHAS. The game itself will see a team of players from North Lanarkshire take on a team from South Lanarkshire. The North team managed by Martin [...]

I very much welcome Ed Miliband’s pledge to conquer youth unemployment through the real jobs guarantee. This promise to young people across the UK shows that Labour is serious about tackling youth unemployment. As Ed Miliband said, the first line of a Labour Budget would be a tax on bank bonuses to get jobs for [...]

Figures recently uncovered by the Labour Party have shown that over two hundred families in Airdrie and Shotts are set to lose around £4,000 per year as a result of the coalition Government’s plans for tax credits.  The figures show that in Airdrie and Shotts, 235 families and 520 children will be affected. Throughout Scotland, [...]

Recently in my capacity as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on HIV and AIDS I visited the Waverley Care Centre in Edinburgh.  Waverley Care provides care and support to people living with HIV and AIDS across Scotland, with outreach services to vulnerable groups, offering peer support and guidance and a buddying scheme for [...]

Today I attended a fuel poverty seminar in Gartlea Community Centre. The event was organised by the Airdrie and Villages Community Forum in partnership with North Lanarkshire Council and NHS Lanarkshire. The seminar was well attended by people from across Airdrie and the villages. The opening speaker was Alex Neil MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and [...]