On Sunday, as I was scrolling through my memories of previous posts on Facebook, one jumped out at me.
It featured one of my fondest memories from the council election campaign of 2022. I was at Drumchapel Shopping Centre with our candidate for that particular ward, Pauline Sutherland, speaking to voters. It was the first time, in a long time, that people in that community had seen a blue rosette proudly walk the streets and it’s fair to say we had a few heads turning.
I remember speaking to people outside the bookies, and they were saying how fed up they were with all political parties. They were sick of them promising the world but failing to ever deliver on those promises. I pledged to those voters, that win or lose, the Conservative Group I lead in Glasgow would be different. What they said resonated with me because like them, I grew up in a community left behind by Labour and SNP politicians who all too often prioritised short-term political gain over actual change for working-class people.
That’s why I am proud of what the UK Government pledged just a few months ago for those people, and the Drumchapel community in Glasgow. The £15 million investment in Drumchapel from the Conservative government’s Levelling Up Fund will see transformational change on the ground in one of our most forgotten corners of the city.
As we progress through 2024, that mission of mine remains as resilient now as it ever did. When I stood in the council elections in Shettleston in 2017, and again in 2022 people said to me “you’re not a typical Tory” but that phrase now makes me laugh, because I am now exactly that. The Glasgow Conservatives are a group of people who believe in opportunity and aspiration, who are from normal working-class communities and want to better their area.
Take our candidate for the upcoming Hillhead by-election, Faten Hameed. She moved to Glasgow more than 30 years ago from Iraq and brought her family up in the West End. She worked for years in Glasgow City Council for its homelessness team and has championed our most vulnerable citizens.
Just like those people in Drumchapel, we won’t forget or ignore those in areas like Hillhead too: the businesses who have been hammered by SNP-Green taxes, red-tape and refusal to listen, or the local cafes unfairly penalised by local councillors who hold vendettas or who have railroaded through unworkable cycle paths despite business opposition. What makes me a Conservative is I passionately believe that the best of our people comes from them, not politicians who always like to think they know best. I believe that businesses and entrepreneurs should be encouraged to invest, not hamstrung by even more ludicrous and burdensome restrictions.
Unlike the city’s Green councillors, I’ll walk the walk on the housing emergency facing Glasgow. They may have backed declaring an emergency, but then the openly anti-growth Greens have actively voted down every single proposal for new homes in the city. The Glasgow Conservatives are pragmatic, sensible and fundamentally on the side of hard-working families who just want a better life for their kids. That’s why I am so delighted that two years on, while Pauline may have not been elected, I am able to stand proud once again with my blue rosette in Drumchapel and tell local people what Conservatives are doing for their community, while Labour and SNP politicians continue to fail to back up warm words with real action.
