OVER the last couple of months, I have been out and about every community across West Dunbartonshire, on the doorsteps, talking to residents and listening to their concerns. 

The message is loud and clear. 

People are telling me that the current status quo of the Tories in Westminster and the SNP in Holyrood is failing Scotland, and our communities across West Dunbartonshire are crying out for change. 

While the cost of living goes through the roof and oil and gas giants rake in billions, the Tories refused to introduce a real meaningful windfall tax on energy companies. 

A Labour Government will introduce this immediately to help everyone struggling with fuel bills and the cost of living crisis. 

This is the difference between the Tories and the Labour Party.

Meanwhile, the SNP are so mired in scandal and in-fighting, that they have lost sight of your priorities and can no longer claim to stand up for the people of Scotland. 

Only Labour can deliver a stronger Scotland now and a transformed United Kingdom.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking consequence of SNP incompetence is the residents of West Dunbartonshire stuck on NHS waiting lists, and the two-tier NHS in Scotland created by the SNP as the number of residents forced to go private soars. 

Last year, a shocking 18,390 passed away on NHS waiting lists in Scotland. 

That’s over 18,000 families with a loved one who died waiting for treatment that could have prolonged or, in some cases, saved their lives. 

We have almost 800,000 people in Scotland waiting for treatment on NHS waiting lists. 

As Health Secretary, Humza Yousaf, failed to get a grip of this, nearly 2 years ago the First Minister published a recovery plan for the NHS and since then things have got worse. 

People without health insurance are now paying for treatment they can’t afford because they are languishing on waiting lists being told their operation or treatment may be years away.

I spoke with an elderly resident of West Dunbartonshire who was living in constant agony waiting for a hip operation. 

She was told she would have years to wait, and therefore her children borrowed to pay for her treatment to bring to an end her pain and suffering, and this is not an isolated case.

Our NHS, created by the Labour Party, was built on the principal of health care free at the point of need. 

That is clearly no longer the case for thousands of people across Scotland. 

The First Minister and the SNP’s incompetence has created a two-tier NHS where people are forced to go into debt in order to stop the pain and get the treatment they need, or to languish on an NHS waiting list. 

The next election will be the UK Westminster General Election.  The NHS won’t survive another Tory victory. 

A vote for the SNP in Scotland is not only a wasted vote, it will help secure a Tory victory. 

Only Scottish Labour can now deliver the change that the residents of West Dunbartonshire, our NHS, and our country so desperately needs.