IT HAS been a privilege to represent East Lothian in the Scottish Parliament since 2007. This is the best place in Scotland to live and work, and I will always put East Lothian first.

Our county has been badly served by the SNP Government, though. They closed our courts, removed our traffic wardens, and tried to build an industrial-scale energy park at Cockenzie which no one wanted.

SNP Ministers have routinely overturned local planning decisions, riding roughshod over the views of local people and imposing inappropriate developments on almost every town and village in the county.

When it comes to investment too, East Lothian has been pushed to the back of the queue. The SNP delayed our new hospital in Haddington for 10 years. We are still waiting for a local rail service to Dunbar and the station at East Linton. Meanwhile, on the North Berwick line, commuters are packed in like sardines or even left at the station, yet we are denied more carriages for at least another two years.

Our children too have been denied a fair share of resources. The SNP Government set up a fund to close the attainment gap in schools. Yet not one of our schools has received a single penny.

I will always stand up for East Lothian in parliament. I led the campaign against court closures, have petitioned for our local hospital, and lobbied the transport minister for our rail services.

As education spokesperson, I developed Labour’s Fair Start Fund proposal, which would see every primary school and most nurseries in East Lothian share over one million pounds of additional funding.

A Scottish Labour government will deliver the rail improvements we need and regulate our bus services so communities get the buses they need, not the ones the bus companies think they should have.

We will abolish the unfair council tax, with most houses now in the wrong bands and paying the wrong tax. Our replacement will keep all current discounts, and would see four out of five households paying less.

The SNP Government have left the door open to fracking, refusing to take a decision on whether to allow it until next year, after the election. A Scottish Labour government will ban fracking, and remove this potential threat to our East Lothian countryside.

We do need more houses, and Labour will build 60,000 affordable homes, 45,000 for social rent. I will make sure East Lothian gets its share, but I will also ensure that we decide where new houses should go, not ministers in Edinburgh.

This election is different, because the Scottish Parliament elected on May 5 will have wide-ranging new powers. Scottish Labour will use those powers to stop austerity cuts and start investing in local services again, protecting health budgets and especially education, which has suffered years of cuts under the SNP.

Above all, though, my promise to you is that if I am re-elected on May 5, I will continue to be stronger for East Lothian.