IT’S time for change.

Most weeks for the last 15 months, I’ve been out and about on doorsteps here across the county meeting and listening to voters.

If there’s one message you’ve given me, it’s that people here feel it’s time for change.

When the SNP were elected 17 years ago in 2007, the first iPhone hadn’t been released.

When the Conservatives were elected 14 years ago in 2010, Donald Trump was still selling New York real estate.

You have told me you have had enough of all the wasted years leading to a country where nothing seems to work and everything is more expensive; that you are tired too of living in a county where last year East Lothian Foodbank had to provide 125,300 emergency food parcels.

Governments should bring stability, not chaos, and at least get basic things right: like helping you to know you’ll be able to make your mortgage payments without the fear of constantly rising rates; like helping you to know your kids will get a good education at school so they can build a career for themselves.

Labour is working hard to earn the support of people here in East Lothian and all across Scotland and the UK for those kinds of changes.

I believe that division weakens us. Whether it’s a divide between rich or poor, or the UK and Europe, or Scotland and England, or those with opportunity and those without, or those who can afford homes and those who cannot; or even within both our governments.

It’s time for this country to have serious governments. It’s time to rebuild our country, our economy and our society so that everyone has a stable stake in the future.

People feel weary and let down after their experience of governments north and south of the Border… from partying through the pandemic and crashing the economy, to the neglect of our NHS, which has now left one in six of us stuck on waiting lists in Scotland.

These kinds of failure make people believe that nothing can ever change, and that politics only makes things worse.

So here are just some of the first steps that a Labour government would take to bring about practical, helpful changes to improve people’s lives: l Our New Deal for Working People will give thousands of Scots pay rises and strengthen workers’ rights.

l Our plans for publicly owned GB Energy, based in Scotland, will create thousands of green jobs and unleash Scotland’s clean energy superpower potential.

l We’ll invest in Scotland’s NHS to deliver an extra 160,000 appointments every single year.

l We’ll create jobs, support first-time buyers and deliver a pay rise for many young people.

We can live in a better country. As John Smith said: “The opportunity to serve – that is all we ask.”

I ask for your vote on July 4.

Douglas Alexander biography - Fifteen months ago, I was privileged to be selected by hundreds of local Labour Party members as our candidate here in East Lothian. In recent years I’ve been a senior fellow at Harvard University and a visiting professor at New York University. Prior to that, I was a Labour MP, serving in the Cabinets of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. I am now ready to put all my experience and energy at the service of this community. Time away from politics lends perspective. I believe that as a country we can and must do better. I am ready to work hard for local people on the concerns that I’ve heard raised on countless doorsteps from Musselburgh to Dunbar: delivering economic stability and good jobs, investing in vital services, and tackling the cost-of-living and climate crises.