Councillors across north-west Glasgow will have been bombarded with emails and phone calls from frustrated constituents who have recently received notification that their green bin collections will be moving from two-weekly to three-weekly soon.

This was a proposal put forward by the SNP administration in their budget back in 2019. Labour councillors like me voted against it and we have held those in power to account over it ever since.

We’ve raised concerns about a lack of community consultation, we’ve asked the administration to listen to trade unions representing workers on the ground who are going above and beyond in increasingly difficult circumstances but raising legitimate concerns, and we’ve pushed for clarity on the real reasons for this change.

We are told that this has to happen, and that it will ultimately allow us to tackle climate change once and for all. But the reality is that this was a political choice, made by the SNP administration, driven by year-on-year budget cuts to Glasgow from their colleagues in Holyrood rather than by a passion for saving our planet.

Sustainability is being used as a get-out to cover up cuts to our city and Glaswegians aren’t falling for it.

I know our citizens care about fighting for climate justice. They’re already doing what they can to make small changes in their own lives to help our environment but what I hear time and time again is Glasgow City Council doesn’t make it easy for people.

SNP politicians will line up to have their photo taken at the world-leading recycling centre opened in the southside – an initiative started by the last Labour administration – but they won’t acknowledge the investment needed to keep it to that standard, ensuring that the facility can manage different types of common plastics which, currently, residents are being told to put in their main waste bin.

Those in the administration may know that our public transport system isn’t working for Glaswegians, but they lack the ambition to think outside of the box on how we can improve it. We need to be looking at models of public ownership that empower communities, prioritise socially necessary routes over profit and are accessible, affordable and greener.

And instead of implementing three-weekly bin collections in the middle of a pandemic, they should look around our city and really think if this is the best way forward – because no amount of political spin can hide the rat infestations, fly-tipping or rubbish overflowing on to the streets that’s escalating across our city.