UK General Election

THERE are now just over two weeks to the UK General Election on 4 July, with postal voters starting to vote this week.

You have until 5pm today to register for a postal or proxy vote.

Remember at this election you need to show photo ID when you vote in person. Acceptable forms of ID include your passport, driving licence card, Scottish National Entitlement card for concessionary travel and the Young Scot card. If you do not have any photo ID, you can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate by 26 June. You can find more details at www.inverclyde.gov.uk/election

Pay Disputes

I WAS pleased to support the motion from my Labour colleagues Francesca Brennan and Martin McCluskey at the full Council on Thursday calling on Scottish Government Ministers to intervene in the long-running college lecturers’ pay dispute to try and facilitate a settlement.

This dispute has been going on for nearly two years and has significantly impacted on the learning of many Inverclyde students, including my own son. It needs to be resolved as a matter of urgency.

Unfortunately, we are also facing the prospects of pay strikes in local government again this year as trade unions have rejected the pay offers made by COSLA on behalf of Councils.

While Councils would like to offer our staff more we simply cannot afford to as this would require further severe cuts to jobs and services.

If the Scottish Government had given Councils the £210m they set aside for the Council Tax freeze and allowed us to increase Council Tax by up to 5%, as requested by COSLA, we would have been in a better position to reach settlements with the unions.

Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board

THE full Council unanimously agreed to nominate my Labour colleague Robert Moran to be our representative on the Health Board to replace Martin McCluskey who resigned following the Board’s decision to permanently downgrade the local GP out of hours service.

Robert will be another strong voice for Inverclyde on the Health Board. He is a former Convener of the Council’s Health and Social Care Committee and is currently Chair of the Inverclyde Integrated Joint Board. He’s also had a lot of personal experience of health services.

School Shows

IT is school show season, and I was delighted to attend Port Glasgow High School’s production of Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ last week. As always with the Port High, the production was of a very high standard and congratulations are due to the entire cast and crew.

The Pride of Inverclyde

ON Friday I attended the awards ceremony for the Council’s Pride of Inverclyde Awards, where we honoured individuals and teams who have gone the extra mile in the past year. I was pleased to present the Employee of the Year award.

As well as the main awards, we also presented long service awards to employees who have worked for the Council for 46 or 47 years.

It is incredible that someone can work for one organisation for such a length of time. It just goes to show that the Council must be a good employer.

Euro 2024

I'M sure we were all disappointed on Friday night by the result against Germany after all the optimism in the build up to the game. It is the hope that kills you someone once said.

Let’s get behind the team again tonight as they play Switzerland and pray for a much better performance and result.