WELL, there we have it, a Scottish Budget for the taking, a budget that says it’s looking to support the most vulnerable people in society and pledges to sort the education, health and local government issues that for too long have been failing in Scotland. 

Before I have a quick once over at some of the bigger talking points of the Budget, I have to make this one first – at every point in the last 17 years in Scotland, the SNP have had sole responsibility for every single one of these policies, they have had the devolved powers. 

And only now, only with responsible and accountable fiscal behaviour from a UK Labour government, and let’s be honest, pressure to deliver some of that money to our most vulnerable in Scotland, do the SNP attempt to do a grown-up budget. 

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Shame they are not very good at it. 

When you hear of £21 billion being pledged to health and social care in a budget – with £200 million being used to “reduce waiting times and improve capacity, reform the service and make it more efficient”, you think that doesn’t sound too bad. 

This will be alongside a plan that by March 2026, no one will wait longer than 12 months for a new outpatient appointment, inpatient treatment or day case treatment and the finance secretary claimed that 150,000 extra patients will be treated as a result. 

Can we just take a minute to think about it – the aim of this government is for no one to wait longer than 12 months for an appointment – seriously? 

If you are in chronic pain, your vision is starting to fail or you are showing signs of dementia, you have to wait for a year before you can say you are not getting the expected level of care? 

Is that really the kind of NHS, the golden beacon of healthcare systems worldwide, we are aspiring to? 

And then to look at the “pledge to invest in affordable housing” – first of all, until it’s actually delivered pledges, promises and plans are piffle, I will only believe that it happens when it does. 

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But I digress, affordable housing was another cornerstone of the Budget – we are to see the Scottish Government investing £768m in affordable homes, enabling more than 8000 new properties with social rent, mid-market rent and low-cost home ownership to be built or acquired this coming year. 

A welcome investment – if it happens. 

All that I think of when I think of the housing emergency in Glasgow is John Swinney, when he was finance minister, putting great big lines through the housing budget and cutting it off … only to see the finance minister a year later bringing it back. 

It’s almost as if the SNP don’t really have a plan or strategy for what is best for Scotland – apart from, of course, their politics of division. 

In all honesty, it was good to see the money secured to Scotland in the UK Labour Budget in October being allocated in Scotland – but as usual, the SNP have failed to actually listen to what people want and it’s too little, too late. 

What the people of Glasgow need is more radical, the same old won’t work. We know what Glaswegians want – they told us on July 4 – they want change. The SNP don’t and won’t listen – to the demise of us all.