THERE was good news from the Scottish Government last week in its announcement of how we will be using our new social security powers for the first time.

This will see claimants of Universal Credit have the option to receive their payments on a fortnightly, rather than monthly, basis, as well as having the housing benefit element paid directly to their landlord if they so wish.

Without a shadow of a doubt, Universal Credit is an ill-thought-through scheme that’s already been sent back to the drawing board at least once during the trial period; frankly, you wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy, and yet here we are having it foisted upon us by the Westminster Tories.

However, I’m pleased that we’re taking a different approach in Scotland that will hopefully minimise the worst of the effects on people who are being shunted on to UC. Perhaps in the near future Westminster will see sense and devolve the rest of the social security powers to Scotland so we no longer have to work under the mean-spirited Tories and their constant desire to pull the rug from under the feet of those most in need.

Of course, we wouldn’t have to worry so much about the Tories winning the next Westminster election if Labour weren’t in such disarray. Last month, Kez Dugdale stated clearly that we need a new ‘Act of Union’ in order to "save the UK for generations to come". Then last week, Jeremy Corbyn contradicted this, saying he "wouldn’t use the words new Act of Union" and that he would rather simply "look at the constitutional relationships".

Sounds like something you do when you’re planning where to seat people at a dinner party rather than trying to save a 300-year-old political union. No wonder people still don’t know what the Labour Party stands for; it doesn’t either.

The value of the East Lothian railway was highlighted last week with the report that the number of passengers increased by more than 130,000 in a year. Hopefully this will again reiterate to Abellio that the well-publicised issues on the network need to be fixed.