THE past week or so has been a chance to reflect, to grieve and to look forward to what is next.

The events leading up to the state funeral for Her Majesty The Queen gave us all an opportunity to remember our longest-reigning monarch, with people all over the world paying their own respects. I believe it also gave us the opportunity to reflect not solely on the monarch’s remarkable life but also offered us time to think about our own personal loss.

The loss of Her Majesty left a lasting impact on all of us, but we not only mourn the loss of our monarch, we mourn the loss of a great-grandmother, a grandmother, a mother and a companion to many. For all, this will unfortunately be relatable – the loss of a relative. In this regard, we all share a common grief and mourn together.

We have now reached the end of the Her Majesty’s reign and we make way for our new monarch, His Majesty King Charles III.

As we look forward, however, we must also think about the tough challenges we have ahead us, with the cost-of-living crisis predicted to push millions into poverty, with not just livelihoods at risk but lives. We require significant action to tackle this issue head on, but the UK Government is asleep at the wheel with belated announcements.

The Scottish Government announced a rent freeze and moratorium on evictions in the latest Programme for Government 2022-2023 and further commits to increasing the Scottish Child Payment to £25 per week per eligible child from November 14, when it also opens to all under-16s. This is action happening now that the Scottish Government can take.

Unfortunately, the powers to act on the scale needed do not lie with the Scottish Government and are reserved to Westminster. Freezing the energy cap at £2,500 for two years is not going to cut it whilst energy companies continue to make eye-watering profits and people are being forced to choose between eating or heating this coming winter.