And just like that the summer holidays are over, and schools have re-started.

Whether it’s going into P1 or S1, this can be a daunting time for pupils. I therefore want to wish them and their teachers all the best for the year ahead.

Both the Scottish and UK Parliaments are still in recess, but things have been anything but quiet, as the new Labour UK Government have already started a new era of austerity.

First, they formally adopted the two-child benefit cap as their own, something which, according to recent figures published by Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), affects 1.6 million children.

CPAG also found that 300,000 children would be lifted out of poverty, and a further 700,000 would be in less deep poverty, if the cap was abolished.

Did Gordon Brown know this was coming when in June he told people in Scotland to “vote Labour to end child poverty”?

It’s not just children that Labour’s austerity is targeting, though. Pensioners are affected too,with the decision to means-test the Winter Fuel Payment having been taken without any prior consultation with devolved nations.

This has directly resulted in an estimated £160m of funding being slashed from the Scottish Government's budget, which consequently has led to the payment being means-tested in Scotland too.

Have Labour also forgotten that when the same measure was considered by the Tories last year, they strongly opposed it saying that “pensioners mustn’t be forced to bear the brunt of Tory economic failure”?

These two policies alone are so far from the change that the electorate voted for.