THIS month I had my first opportunity to grill David Cameron in the House of Commons since I became an MP, when the speaker called me in Prime Minister's Questions.

I tackled him on the issue of jobs - specifically reports that unemployment could rise by 1,700 in this area as a direct result of the Tory/Lib Dem Coalition's cuts.

I asked him to explain what he will do to make sure unemployment here doesn't reach the level it did under the last Tory Government.

His answer - that he wanted to engineer a private sector-led economy - was hollow and offers no reassurance to local people concerned for their jobs.

In spite of the measures he says will help, experts still predict one million jobs will be lost dues to his government's cuts.

David Cameron also described the latest unemployment figures - which showed the local jobless total has risen by more than 100 in the last month - as a "good sign".

It is perhaps no surprise that someone who is taking such a reckless gamble with our economy would say job losses are a good sign, and there are echoes of the Thatcher Governments when unemployment was considered "a price worth paying".

But David Cameron's attitude will only infuriate local people even further.

What is perhaps more surprising is that we are hearing this attitude being mimicked by Lib Dem ministers in the Coalition Government.

When I recently questioned the Liberal Democrat Scottish Secretary, Michael Moore, on what his assessment was of the impact of the spending cuts on West Dunbartonshire, he replied that "Scotland and its regions will benefit" from the cuts.

Frankly it is astonishing that Michael Moore thinks that people should be grateful for cuts which could render 1,700 more people in West Dunbartonshire jobless, which will hit local services like schools and hospitals, and which will hammer ordinary hard working families.

All of this goes to show just how out-of-touch and removed Michael Moore, David Cameron and the Tory/Lib Dem Coalition are from the people who will be affected by their cuts.

Remembrance I TOOK part in Remembrance Sunday events and laid wreaths across West Dunbartonshire last month.

This was another first for me in my time as an MP, and indeed also as the shadow minister for Armed Forces Veterans.

This year, as every year, we remembered those who have given their lives in the service of our country.

And as we fell silent to remember the fallen, we too thought of the brave men and women of our Armed Forces serving in difficult circumstances far from home today.

The huge numbers of people who turned out in our area on Remembrance Sunday to pay tribute to our servicemen and women shows how proud we are of them in West Dunbartonshire.

They are the very best of Scotland and Britain.