With our new First Minister Humza Yousaf’s delivery of his bold, ambitious vision for government based on the values of equality, opportunity and community, he has set out a strong commitment for the Scottish Government to continue to pursue a progressive policy agenda – that has won the SNP election after election.

The actions set out by the First Minister will tackle poverty, build a fairer, greener and growing economy, and improve public services by 2026.

We cannot escape that we are in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, made worse by the Tory Government’s continued economic mismanagement and Brexit. The UK Government’s disastrous September mini-budget created unnecessary additional financial hardship for households and businesses across the country – and it is no coincidence that the IMF predicts that the UK is set to be the worst performing economy in the G20.

And worse yet, we just cannot trust the pro-Brexit Labour party to stand up for the people of Scotland any more than we can trust the Tories.

Living standards are falling, bills are unaffordable, and people are being forced to choose between heating and eating. It is therefore unfathomable that the Tory UK Government Energy Price Guarantee remains at £2,500 and that the Energy Bills Support Scheme has ended – meaning that, for the foreseeable future, Scottish families will be paying more that double what they paid in 2021. Shockingly in a resource rich Scotland this will translate to an estimated 920,00 fuel poor households.

In direct response, the new First Minister has demonstrated that tackling child poverty and helping families deal with the cost-of-living pressures are key priorities.

As one of the first acts as First Minister, Humza Yousaf announced that the Scottish Government is tripling the Fuel Insecurity Fund to £30m to support anyone at risk of self-disconnection, or self-rationing their energy use.

The First Minister has also announced that thousands more low-income families will benefit from free school age childcare as part of a £15m investment to tackle child poverty; and people living in some of Scotland’s most deprived communities will benefit from an additional £1million of funding to help tackle health inequalities.

It is also the case that the SNP Scottish Government is mitigating the damaging impact of the UK Government welfare policies, and using its limited devolved social security powers to make a real difference. Testimony to this being the widespread stakeholder backing for the First Minister’s priorities; and specifically, Child Poverty Action Group Scotland stating: “The Scottish Government has done the right thing, now the UK Government must act to scrap the [benefit] cap altogether.”

However, we cannot escape the fact that the progress this Scottish Government has made is consistently hindered by the devastating impact of the Tory UK Government’s decade of austerity and welfare cuts, and demonstrates yet again why Scotland needs the full powers of independence.

I am deeply proud of the First Minister’s commitments to improve the lives of people in Scotland, and I am exceptionally proud to have been appointed as Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy and look forward to taking forward work in this sphere.

At the same time as this, my important work as the MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley continues and my dedicated constituency staff team will continue to ensure that people are supported, and if they need assistance with anything they can contact me local office at any time.