IN the Green movement we have a well-worn and time-honoured phrase: think globally, act locally.

It is a call for us all to think about the world around us and, at the same time, to work in our communities and take action on our doorstep.

It is one of the key ideas that our movement is based on and is what I hope the people of Hillhead do when they go to the ballot box next week for the upcoming council by-election.

Our Scottish Green candidate is Seonad Hoy, a passionate local campaigner with a background in charities and social housing, which makes her particularly well placed to represent our city as we deal with this Tory cost-of-living crisis.

Twenty years of living in Hillhead has given Seonad a deep knowledge of the community, and she has been working closely with our current ward councillor, Martha Wardrop, to prioritise local climate action and support people through the cost-of-living crisis.

Councillors can make a big difference and Martha is proof of that.

Having been elected in 2007 and re-elected three times since, topping the poll in 2022, it’s fair to say that she knows the ward inside out.

Local residents are often telling me about the big impact she has had in taking on their issues and fighting for them in the City Chambers.

In 2021 Glasgow elected 10 Scottish Green councillors.

It was a record result for us and a reflection of the hard work of Martha and her colleagues.

Since then, they’ve worked constructively for our city by delivering a climate action fund and extra funding to bring empty homes back into use, giving support for safer, greener streets with low traffic neighbourhoods, protecting local services, and investing in recycling and our green spaces.

These are the kinds of successes that Seonad will champion and that her election would allow us to deliver even more of.

The work that councillors do is difficult.

It can involve long and often anti-social hours and, particularly as a Green, it sometimes means being a lone voice in the room.

Nobody stands to be a Green councillor because they think it will be easy.

They do it because they care about their neighbourhoods and our future.

When there are Green voices in the room it pushes the environment firmly up the agenda.

We’ve shown this on a national scale, with Green policies making a real difference for people across Hillhead and all over Scotland, from protecting tenants from sharp rent rises to investing in the energy efficiency of our tenements to cut bills and carbon emissions.

But none of these things are delivered by Holyrood alone.

They need collaboration and teamwork from all levels of government.

If we’re going to get the most out of these policies locally then we need more Green councillors in our City Chambers to help us drive them forward.

We all benefit from cleaner air, safer streets and measures to tackle the cost of living and the climate crisis.

On all these issues our councillors are well placed to make change happen.

I hope the people of Hillhead think globally and act locally and elect Seonad Hoy as their next councillor.