The recently concluded Scottish parliamentary election has been the dominant political story of 2021 in Scotland, and since its conclusion, the public have moved on.

All weighed down by the gruelling impact of the pandemic, many are keen for politicians at all levels to come up with solutions rather than simply raise complaints.

And my goodness do we need serious solutions at local government level. As a local councillor in Glasgow, I cannot think of a budget since my election in 2017 that has been investment focused.

Departmental budgets have been repeatedly cut, council tax has gone up, but services have not improved. It’s a case of pay more to get less under the SNP-run council, and the public cannot understand this. The truth is that on average, 85 per cent of the net revenue expenditure of local authorities come from a Scottish Government block grant, with the remainder coming from local taxation, charges and other sources.

Glasgow, for example, had a funding gap of £40.9m in 2019, following a pitiful block grant, and the SNP raised council tax by 3 per cent which in no way bridged the gap. This was only a temporary fix to protect some services, not improve them. So how can we improve local services?

Firstly, the question of the block grant from the Scottish Government needs to be addressed, because raising council tax offers a poor value proposition. Services are not improved, they are only protected, with the bare minimum offered under statutory obligation.

The Scottish Conservatives’ proposal for an automatic amount to be transferred to councils each year from the Scottish Government’s budget demands serious consideration. This is important because the best budget allocation we have had from the Scottish Government has been this year’s budget. Forgive me for being cynical but isn’t it interesting that the council received more money during a parliamentary election year? Our proposal eliminates this bias.

Secondly, the city’s SNP leadership has failed on several promises. The council leader has been weak in calling for better funding for Glasgow from Holyrood, which has had a devastating impact on communities.

But beyond this, there is the question of the quality of leadership. The Glasgow Conservative council group put forward a motion to declare a cleansing crisis in Glasgow, but this was ignored. This is quite frankly astonishing.

It is obvious that the SNP have failed to keep our city clean and against the backdrop of being the host for COP26, I hope they get their act together.

Our communities will benefit from a change of approach.