LAST week, amongst many activities, I had two meetings with Scottish ministers: the minister for victims and community safety and the Deputy First Minister.

The meeting with the fprmer was to discuss the fall-out from the McClure’s Solicitors saga, as I have been assisting constituents affected by this.

As well as providing background details about how an estimated 100,000 people may be affected by the McClure’s closure, we discussed how my amendment to the current Trusts and Successions Bill will offer better protection.

We also discussed the Regulation of Legal Services Bill, potential amendments and how they could bolster the roles of the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) to ensure they can proactively pursue matters on behalf of clients.

The minister agreed to continue dialogue with me on this matter. I also informed her of the event I’m hosting in January with the SLCC to raise awareness of this issue and how former McClure’s clients can raise a complaint via the SLCC.

If you would like more information about this, please contact my office (720930) as the details are still being finalised.

My next meeting, with the Deputy First Minister Shona Robison MSP, was to discuss the upcoming Scottish Budget for 2024-25.

I put forward three priorities for Inverclyde - additional resources for Police Scotland, the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service and the letter sent from the Inverclyde Taskforce in August.

All three have been important issues locally and I have received correspondence from constituents on them.