'AS 2018 ends, and I reflect on the year that has passed, the UK Government’s welfare reforms and the impact on the people I serve is at forefront of my mind.

Earlier this year it was revealed that Glenrothes has lost over a million pounds in benefits payments to some of our most vulnerable people. These cuts have also impacted in particular on the homeless in my constituency and throughout the whole of Scotland.

Research from Shelter shows that the roll out Universal Credit is creating a complicated landscape to navigate and is pushing people further into poverty.

The effects of Universal Credit has been felt throughout my constituency, with Fife Council having had to set aside £200,000 to cover the roll-out of Universal Credit and spending more than a million pounds in related costs. Since 2013, the Scottish Government has spent over £100 million a year to protect people from the worst aspects of Tory welfare cuts.

While cuts to social security have negatively impacted on many vulnerable people, they have had a disproportionately harmful impact on women. The Scottish Government’s homelessness and rough sleeping action group’s recommendations note that woman who have experienced domestic abuse are at particular risk of homelessness.

Scottish Woman’s Aid also say that domestic abuse continues to be a major cause of homelessness. Indeed, between 2015 and 2016, 4,135 homelessness applications gave ‘Dispute within household: violent or abusive’ as the reason for the application.

Domestic abuse remains to be a leading cause of homelessness for women locally. I met recently with Fife Women’s Aid in Glenrothes. They told me about the problems still experienced by women and children - particularly at Christmas. I’d like to thank all the staff at Fife Women’s Aid for all the work they do to support vulnerable women and families across the Kingdom - but this shouldn’t be happening in Scotland in 2018.

As I reflect on a year which has been dominated politically by Brexit, I think about some of the most vulnerable people I represent. The people who are often voiceless. The people who are often victims. The people who don’t turn up to my surgeries to ask for help.

These people are often women who have experienced domestic abuse. They are often elderly people who can’t afford to heat their house. Sometimes they are children who believe that what they have to say doesn’t count for anything.

This Christmas I will be thinking of those constituents and remembering my role to give those people a voice in Holyrood, where it counts'.