In recent days the council has passed its budget for the year ahead. We did so in the most challenging circumstances Scottish local government has faced in the modern era.

The Westminster government’s economic mismanagement, a disastrous Brexit, record inflation and its impact on goods and services, and the cost-of-living crisis have created an unprecedented set of financial pressures. And in that difficult context, we rightly want to compensate our staff as best we can through decent pay uplifts.

Given that we faced a spending gap of almost £49 million, the budget contains some savings I’d much rather weren’t in there. I can’t pretend otherwise.

But, even with these pressures, we’ve maintained our commitment to no compulsory redundancies, protected teacher numbers (which remain at 15% higher than when the SNP formed the administration), continued our pioneering Holiday Food and Activity Programme, protected local venues and much more. And we’ve settled the final stage of Labour’s pay discrimination legacy.

Being able to do so wasn’t easy. It involved some very tough conversations with Scottish Government colleagues, including laying out in this column our concerns about some recent decisions they had made. At the time of writing, Deputy First Minister John Swinney is leading the Stage 3 Budget debate at Holyrood and I’m confident it will bring some of the help we’ve asked for. The SNP City Administration fought hard for Glasgow and I hope to see a positive outcome to those constructive discussions.

We also made sure to explore absolutely every route available to legally balance our budget, while protecting and maintaining our services as much as humanly possible.

The SNP City Administration did so because it had to. Unlike opposition parties, we didn’t have the luxury of throwing our hands up, walking away and then returning for lunch at the City Chambers café an hour later. Failing – or indeed refusing – to set a budget was never an option for us.

Just nine months ago, each of Glasgow’s 85 councillors promised the electorate they would accept the responsibility to maintain services and respond to the ever-growing needs of households, communities and businesses.

Their eyes were open to the financial context this council – indeed the UK – would find itself in. Labour, the Tories and the Greens gave up that responsibility.  

Worse still, last May, Labour group leader George Redmond, from an airport in Spain, launched an attempt to lead this council. Yet the first time he’s called upon to show any kind of real leadership he’s nowhere to be seen.

Had Cllr Redmond pulled a stunt as council leader like he did last week and refused to take part in the budget, it would have been catastrophic for Glasgow.

External auditors would have been appointed to do the job, taking control of our policies for staff and services and local priorities with no concern for anything but balancing the books.

All those things I mentioned which we fought hard to protect would be binned. There would be nothing radical or heroic about such a course of action.

Indeed, Labour’s only contribution had been to scaremonger and spread lurid misinformation amongst staff and the public.

For them, this is all about political games and attacks, not protecting citizens, staff and communities.

I know that some in the Labour group are appalled at this and at their leadership’s orders not to set a budget.

They appreciate that dressing up incompetency and posturing as principle, and resorting to stunts and slogans instead of addressing the consequences of Tory economic mismanagement, isn’t what Glaswegians need. That however is for them to resolve.

Leadership is about making difficult decisions, fighting difficult fights and trying always to make the right choice even when it feels like there’s no right choice available. This budget is not pretty but it protects what most needs

to be protected and points

to a clear way ahead

for Glasgow City Council.

The circumstances we find ourselves in require us all – more than ever – to seek solutions and our budget is the best solution to our challenges

in the context we find ourselves.

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Like many, many others I was surprised, shocked and more than a little upset by Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement last week that she was resigning as First Minister.

She has not only been the outstanding politician of her generation right across these islands but also an absolutely brilliant colleague to all of us in the Glasgow SNP.

Her combination of intelligence, empathy, eloquence and conviction as First Minister will serve as an example and inspiration for a very long time. And she has blazed a trail for women, held fast by her integrity and shown extraordinary courage.

Scotland is forever changed for the better by her leadership and I will miss her enormously.

Filling Nicola’s shoes is going to be very hard task for anyone but – as with any process of change – it also brings opportunities.

For me, Humza Yousaf’s experience as a Glasgow MSP gives him particular insight into the damage Tory austerity has wrought on our communities and the need for strong public services to support them. And his inclusive and progressive platform is the right one for a diverse, vibrant city like Glasgow in a modern, outward-looking Scotland.

Regardless though, I look forward to a healthy and respectful debate within the SNP and across Scotland in the weeks ahead.