'FIRST Minister’s Questions, in the Scottish Parliament, was a real humdinger this week as Nicola systematically destroyed the arguments being put forward by all-comers. In particular, she exploded some myths that have been circulating about Tax Credits.

Tax credits can be a lifeline for families on low incomes that rely on them to get through daily life, put food on the table, heat their home and pay their bills.

By cutting tax credits, households across Scotland will be faced with nearly £700 million of cuts and additional worries and stress about caring for their families.

That is an intolerable burden on families in Central Fife.

The First Minster made absolutely clear that the Scottish Government and our SNP colleagues in the House of Commons will keep up the pressure on the Tories to drop the cuts altogether and, if they do not completely reverse them, we, as a responsible Government, will introduce credible, deliverable and affordable plans to protect low-income households, just as we did on the Bedroom Tax.

Over and over she had to repeat this to a Labour Leader who couldn’t seem to change her script to adapt to the answers and was more inclined to attack the SNP than the Tories.

The question of affordability is key to delivering on a promise of this kind and without it any promise is just empty political posturing. And it is on that point that the Labour Party falls down badly. They have talked of using air passenger duty as the source of funding a Scottish replacement for tax credits but that position utterly collapses at the slightest investigation.

In an interview in Holyrood magazine, the day before she announced her position on tax credits, Kezia Dugdale said that Labour would scrap the plans to cut air passenger duty measure and spend that money on education, so in the space of 24 hours Labour managed to spend the same sum of money twice over!

As the FM pointed out, a clear example of Labour today being less Keir Hardie and more Laurel and Hardy!

But I think the best of the exchanges were when the First Minister took on two examples of staggering hypocrisy, one from the Tory benches and the other from Labour.

Baroness Goldie was rightly awarded 10 out of 10 for brass neck by the FM who made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that she would take no lectures on Tax Credits from a Tory fresh from voting in favour of them in the House of Lords.

This was followed by a withering put down of Labour’s Jackie Baillie for standing in the chamber to talk about cuts to the incomes of poor families when, just two days ago, she had pressed her button and voted to spend £167 billion on renewing Trident nuclear weapons.

Whatever the FM had for her breakfast that morning, I want some. She really was on fire and we are lucky to have at the helm a politician so supremely on top of her game'.