WHAT a year it has been. An SNP landslide at the Westminster election followed by another SNP landslide across constituencies at this week’s Holyrood election. After being Scotland’s government for nine years, this result was excellent – only narrowly missing out on repeating our feat of being a majority government in an election system designed to make sure that should never happen.

There can be little doubt that the people of Scotland have put their trust in the SNP. At both elections we asked voters to trust us to stand up and be a strong voice for Scotland.

I am confident that it is something that we can deliver. I know that personally I will not stop pushing for more powers until we get our independence and we, the Scottish people, can make all the decisions that affect our country.

It has also been an amazing year for me. Just over a year ago I was finishing off my degree at Glasgow University and volunteering with Oxfam.

I was encouraged to put my name forward as the SNP candidate for Paisley and Renfrewshire South and even though I won the nomination, I was still expecting the actual campaign to be more of an experience than a life-changing event.

From the declaration of the result to my maiden speech at Westminster, time has flown by. From only visiting London once before the election (when I held up a Yes sign on Westminster Bridge) I now have a regular commute from Paisley to London almost every week. Finding somewhere to stay in London as well as finding my way around Westminster was also a new experience for me, as was setting up a constituency office and employing staff to help me look after my constituents.

Throughout all this massive change in my life I am grateful to the support and help given by my family, friends and supporters as I made the transition from student to MP.

Like anyone starting a new job there has been a steep learning curve. Although I suppose not many jobs require knowledge of 18th-century traditions such as having to repeatedly jump up and sit back down to catch the Speaker’s eye if you want to speak in a debate; or many workplaces which require that employees are separated by two red lines – two sword-lengths apart – to ensure no fencing breaks out between opposing factions!

I am aware of the privileged position I am now in. Uppermost in my mind is the need to do the best that I can for my constituents. Already, in one year, my office has dealt with almost 4,000 constituent cases and at times the workload has threatened to overwhelm the office.

Locally, I try where I can to support the many tremendous charities and voluntary groups within my constituency and the wider Renfrewshire area. As someone who has volunteered for a charity I realise how important each cause is to the people who take time out of their family and personal life to help others. For instance, while I will attack the failure of our social security system which has led to the rise in the number and use of foodbanks I have nothing but admiration and respect for the volunteers who keep these vital foodbanks open and for the support they receive from the public.

I’ve also had the huge privilege to have been the SNP’s youth ambassador where I encouraged younger voters, particularly 16- and 17-year-olds to become more engaged in politics. This was more than just getting young people to vote but to get them to be more active and to encourage them to shape the future they want to see for their families, their communities and their country. It was, and still is, to my joy that little encouragement from me was very rarely needed as the level of engagement for first-time voters was looking after itself.

However, the campaign I am proudest of becoming involved with is WASPI, which aims to restore the pension rights of women born in the early 1950s. This campaign has been running for a number of years but has only occasionally attracted the attention of the general public. I’ve had a number of meetings with WASPI members and local groups and am able to use the information they provide me with through their stories to speak to parliament about the real-life, disastrous impact this is having on the lives of so many women. My colleagues and myself are working tirelessly to do all we can to push this campaign farther forward.

I have enjoyed my first year and hope that, along with my office team, we can do more for the constituency and for Scotland over the next four years. I recognise that I, along with every other elected member of the SNP, have to work hard each and every day to repay the trust that the people of Scotland have placed in the SNP.