LAST week, I congratulated Douglas Alexander and stated I looked forward to working with him as Holyrood and Westminster co-operate in addressing constituents’ priorities.

I’ve contacted him and will seek a meeting to discuss how we get working on these issues as soon as possible.

There are a number of issues, however, I would like him to take forward with his Labour Government colleagues as soon as possible.

  • Child poverty: the Scottish Government has led the way with the its game-changing Scottish Child Payment, which has been estimated to lift 100,000 Scottish children out of poverty. This is the only payment of its type in the UK.

The Labour Government must abolish the Two Child Cap – this was an abhorrent cap brought in by the Conservative Government which has been widely criticised by poverty charities for a number of years. Many Labour MSPs and MPs have criticised this cap as inhumane.

Douglas Alexander in his Government role must pressurise Keir Starmer to lift this cruel cap. Not to do so will let down thousands in East Lothian.

Local housing allowance and universal rates aren’t at a level to meet even the most basic standard of living. These have to increase and increase very soon.

  • WASPI women: there are many hundreds, if not thousands, of women in East Lothian who are suffering due to rule changes about their entitlement to their pension and change of pension age. Labour, now in government, cannot ignore their plight. The initial noises from UK Government are not good.
  • Temporary work visas: there are many labour shortages in East Lothian caused by Brexit, which Labour now supports. All businesses are impacted but key sectors such as care, hospitality and tourism cannot operate to full capacity. If Labour won’t support freedom of movement then there should be serious discussions around temporary work visas for certain sectors.

I look forward to working with Douglas; he needs to use his influence to tackle the issues above as soon as possible.