THANKS to Labour’s laziness and incompetence Glasgow faces another by-election.

The party’s inability to follow basic rules and submit paperwork on time means their successful candidate in the recent by-election in the North East of the city, Mary McNab, has been disqualified from being a councillor.

I genuinely feel for Ms McNab. She’s been badly let down by Glasgow Labour’s leadership and by her election agent. But so too has the city. Staging another by-election takes up a lot of time and effort. And this whole Labour debacle comes at considerable cost to the public.

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Under electoral rules, because Ms McNab has been an employee of the City Council, Labour had 24 hours to submit her resignation after she’d been elected. But for whatever reason, they just didn’t.

These are totally unprecedented circumstances (probably as it’s such a simple process with a clear purpose no-one has screwed up on it before). Because of that, the Council is seeking clarity from the courts about the course of action which now follows.

Either way, the cost of staging another by-election, all the associated administration and disruption, of hiring a KC to provide the legal advice and going to court - and the time senior officers need to devote to this - will be considerable. This is time and money the city can’t afford.

Given Labour’s responsibility for this, perhaps the multi-millionaires who run and bankroll the party can dip into their pockets and compensate for this mess. And they can do so by making a donation to those Third Sector organisations hit by the UK Government’s decision to raise Employer’s National Insurance, thereby taxing employment rather than wealth.

One thing’s clear from all this though. The very people who believe they have a divine right to run this city – the Labour Party - couldn’t run a bath.

TOMORROW, residents in the west end go to the polls again. The by-election in Partick East and Kelvindale was triggered by the sad death of long-standing SNP councillor Kenny McLean.

Kenny was everything a local councillor should be. Visible in his ward, attentive to its needs and challenges, and interested in what matters to his constituents rather than his career or the trappings of office. His passing has left a huge void in his ward, at the City Council and in the lives of all who knew him.

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Thursday’s poll though takes place in a climate of real voter apathy, with extremely low turnouts at the three by-elections held in the city last month. That’s entirely understandable. Westminster austerity has battered our public services and people across our communities are hacked off. We need national governments at all levels to seriously invest in local government and the public services and infrastructure that our communities deserve.

I could list numerous reasons why it’s important for all of us who care about democracy to make their voice heard during elections, not least the lift which low turnout gives to the likes of Reform and those who seek to undermine our cohesion.

But I can’t give a better reason than Kenny, a shining example of why local democracy matters. Regardless of how they opt to vote, I hope that the residents of Partick East and Kelvindale turn out in numbers tomorrow to elect the local champion they deserve.

AT the time of writing, we’re awaiting the Scottish Government’s budget and how it will impact on our resources, services and ambitions of our city. But conversations between local government and the Finance Secretary Shona Robison in the build-up have been really positive, probably the best they’ve been for several years.

Shona’s been going out of her way to engage with Councils on our challenges and how the Budget might help address those. Rightly, she can’t tell us the details of what’s in her budget until she addresses Parliament.

But let’s be clear: not only is she unable to undo the damage of 14 years of Tory austerity in one budget, but the resources Labour are providing with one hand, they’re taking away with the other. They’re selling Scotland and our public services short by at least £200million. These have been difficult years and while today’s budget can be a step in the right direction, Scotland is having to continue working to improve people’s lives with one hand tied behind our back.