SERVING as the SNP spokesperson for Justice and Immigration at Westminster for the last two years, has been an immense privilege and an ever-increasing task given the unprecedented attacks on our rights and the continued demonisation of refugees and asylum seekers.

It has been a role where I’ve been able to stand up not just for Scotland but for all those facing the relentless onslaught of Tory ideology and the horrific impact this has on their day-to-day lives.

Many of my past columns have highlighted the steady stream of awfulness we have been subjected to by this cabal. Much of the legislation I’ve had to lead the fight against whilst the Labour Party try to out Tory the Tories, has kept me awake many a night.

But much as I have loved my dual spokesperson role, I am also keenly aware of the many other issues faced by a huge number of my constituents in Glasgow North East. That is why I am looking forward to time on the backbenches and a renewed focus on my other campaigns.

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Two major pieces of work my team and I have been working on is to outlaw so-called self-disconnection of prepayment gas and electricity meters and to get a fairer deal for our pensioners.

Every year almost £8 million of Pension Credits go unclaimed in Glasgow North East alone. Hundreds of millions of pounds every year stay in the pockets of the Tory Treasury instead of in those of the least well-off Scottish pensioners.

The UK Government says it wants to increase the number of people who apply so it has a “Day of Action” every year. That’s not enough. We need to understand why so many pensioners (about 40%) don’t apply and then we need to address their concerns. That’s what my team has been doing locally.

We know that many think the online application process is difficult. So we held a number of days in the office where pensioners came in and my team applied for Pension Credit for them.

When the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced financial help for people during the cost of living crisis, he said those on Pension Credit would get an additional £650 to help with energy bills. This sounded like a real incentive to get people to apply for what, after all, is their legal entitlement.

However, the deadline was the middle of August. Anyone applying for Pension Credit after that might well get the “benefit” but they’re too late for the £650.

So I’ve been campaigning for that deadline to be extended to the end of March.

My argument is that for those pensioners who are too proud to ask for help, the middle of winter when they are freezing, when their bills are increasing to eye-watering levels and they know they simply cannot pay them, is exactly when we should be “dangling” that extra £650 that comes with Pension Credit.

Last August, when the sun shone occasionally, nobody had the heating on and nobody really knew how bad the cost of living increases would be. August was not the time. So I’m fighting for an extension to the deadline so I can say to my constituents, apply this winter and if you’re eligible, you’ll get this extra £650. If the Tory government really wants to increase the number of people applying, they have no argument against this.

THE other major scandal that my focus is on is that of so called self-disconnection for people on prepayment meters whereby once you use up the £5 or £10 “emergency credit” you are automatically disconnected and left without gas or electricity.

Bear in mind, if you don’t have electricity, you can’t heat your home, the contents of your fridge/freezer go off and you can’t charge your phone or wash your clothes.

I want “self-disconnection” to be outlawed. This is a campaign about equality. This is not what happens to those of us using other payment methods.

We get to pay in arrears, we pay less for our energy and, should we be struggling to make ends meet, the energy supplier will work with us to find a solution but until we find it, we can build up £100s if not £1000s of debt before we are disconnected.

It’s not something you want for people but it’s a whole lot better than freezing. It’s also a lot safer than freezing.

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I have what’s known as a “Ten Minute Rule Bill” going through the British Parliament right now calling for this dreadful practice of so-called self-disconnection to be outlawed. So far, despite sounding sympathetic, the UK Government has taken no action. I met with Ofgem and they’ve taken no action on this either. I held a debate the week before Christmas and it was supported by MPs from all parties.

My social media channels and website will have more details on these and other campaigns in the weeks to come and I’m asking you to keep an eye on them because I’m going to need your help. It is vital we get as many people as possible on board to put pressure on the UK Government to make the necessary changes to legislation.

At times, being an MP at Westminster feels like an uphill battle that you never win but I am confident that in these instances we can win, and winning will make people’s lives dramatically better in the here and now while we continue to fight for the ultimate prize, independence.

And let me tell you, both of my campaigns received unanimous support at SNP conference this year so I am confident if we were currently independent and our Scottish Government had the powers currently held by the UK Government, both of my campaigns would have been successful by now.

Doing the right thing by people will be so much easier when we are free of the shackles of Westminster.