An independent Scotland will get the priorities right, unlike the Tories

And even those ministers still in place have been pulling out of question sessions. First, Home Secretary Priti Patel gave very short notice that she would not be appearing before the Home Affairs Select Committee, then Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has pulled out of the Joint Committee on Human Rights tomorrow when he was to be quizzed about the awful Bill of Rights.

It’s chaos. We now have a zombie government doing nothing to address the cost of living crisis while a parade of terrible human beings argue about which one of them hates trans people enough to lead the Tory Party. This will be their fourth leader since 2014 and that’s democracy; but it seems that its fine to change your mind if you are a Tory MP but not if you are Scottish.

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One of the stories that has slipped under the radar slightly during all this has been the admission by Boris Johnson that he ditched his security team to party with former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev while he was foreign secretary. After socialising with the former intelligence officer of a hostile country, he went on to reward Lebedev’s son with a lifetime position in the House of Lords.

This is the sort of corruption and cronyism that has become so common with this government that it barely registers with the media – but this case stinks on multiple levels. Not only do we need to question why the then foreign secretary felt the need to abandon his security detail to go to a party in Italy with Lebedev but also why, as Prime Minister, he intervened to overturn the security services’ advice not to approve the peerage for Evgeny Lebedev.

It has always been clear that Boris Johnson is a lazy individual who indulges in racist rhetoric, but it appears he may also have been a threat to national security on top of everything else. I would love to believe that there will be a detailed inquiry into this along with all of the other scandals of this Tory government that leads to consequences for those responsible.

But if any of the previous public inquiries are anything to go by it would likely be a total whitewash that reaches no conclusion and even if it did would deliver no justice.

All of those vying to replace him have been complicit in the corruption and moral bankruptcy that has led to the UK being the worst performing economy of comparator nations with record levels of inequality. The idea that any one of these people are the answer to the problems we face would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious.

All we can expect to see is someone a little less bumbling pushing the exact same policies that benefit the rich and punish everyone else, particularly those on the lowest incomes.

Last week in Westminster I asked the Minister for Work and Pensions to extend the timeframe people have to apply for pension credits and be eligible for the £650 cost of living payment. Currently the application must be made by August 24 but I am campaigning to extend that to the end of this financial year. This is because it will be during the winter months when people are in desperate need of extra support that I believe the numbers of people applying for pension credits will increase and when they do, they should be able to get that £650.

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In my constituency of Glasgow North East alone there is £7.7 million in unclaimed pension credits and across Scotland some 123,000 households are thought to be missing out on more than £300m each year. Not only would this money be much better in the pockets of our pensioners than in Westminster’s but by applying for pension credits people will also then be entitled to free television licences and a number of other benefits including this cost of living payment.

In addition to asking the question on the floor of the House of Commons, I recently wrote to the chancellor about it. When he stopped being the chancellor I wrote to ANOTHER chancellor. Then I wrote to the current chancellor.

I delivered a petition from Glasgow North East constituents to the House of Commons. So far, nobody is giving in but our pensioners deserve at the very least to be able to eat well and stay warm, so I won’t be giving in.

And it’s not just pensioners, it’s not just those who are long used to juggling every penny. With inflation at more than 10% – and actually much higher for those with the least income – there is no doubt that we are facing a catastrophic winter where heating or eating will be a literal choice that some people have to make and others may not even have enough money to do either.

I am working with local service providers to get as comprehensive a list as possible together so that we can all help signpost people to the available support. Across Glasgow, we have lots of amazing groups offering money advice and support with welfare applications and I would encourage anyone who is struggling to reach out to the services we are lucky to have here.

In my constituency office, we are getting ready to advise hundreds (possibly thousands) of people on every bit of help available.

It shouldn’t have to be like this, should it? And it doesn’t have to. An independent Scotland would simply not treat people like this. My evidence? The Scottish Government, with all the restrictions on its budget, spends £600m every year mitigating the worst of the UK Government’s heartless policies. It takes the flak that comes with that amount of money being taken out of other budgets because they are absolutely committed to protecting the most vulnerable in this country.

So it’s clear to me that when we vote for independence and don’t have this nonsense to mitigate against as well as full control over all of our economic policies, we can and will transform life for everyone. Let’s not lose this opportunity – because it might be our last one.