'WELL, here we go again. The third General Election in four years, another Tory Government Scotland didn’t vote for, looking to strengthen their position of power. If you feel scunnered with Politics right now, no one could blame you.

But, 2019 is not like 2017. Nor 2015. 2019 is perhaps one of the most important elections in Scotland’s History yet - because it gives us an opportunity to do something different. That is to escape Brexit. That is to have a choice about our constitutional future.

Boris’s predecessor, Theresa May, assured us that the United Kingdom would have left the European Union in March. Then Boris promised us October. He said he would rather ‘die in a ditch’ than cow-tow to Remainer MPs' demands. But Boris didn’t have the numbers. So back to the polls we now go.

Last month I wrote to all 750 European citizens who live in my constituency of Mid Fife and Glenrothes. No matter what is going on in Westminster, it’s important we send a message to EU citizens: 'Scotland is your home, you will always be welcome and we want you to stay'. As a nation we value the extensive contribution that EU citizens make to Scotland and of course, to Fife. From dedicated workers in our hospitality industry, to students studying in St Andrews, to European Funding for Fife Colllege - Fife benefit’s from membership of the European Union. We are part of a bigger family of European nations, but at the moment our voice isn’t being heard. Because we don’t have a seat at the top table.

Scotland voted to Remain in the European Union in 2016. Every single council area, including Fife, backed the vote. Now we face being dragged off a Brexit cliff edge, by a Government we didn’t vote for. We can do so much better than this. For future generations growing up in Fife, those who have yet to be born - we don’t want to shrink their horizons or narrow their ambitions.

On December 12 you will have a clear choice. A vote for the politics of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, or a vote for the politics of a progressive, inclusive nation. A vote for the SNP is a vote to give the Scottish people a choice on the future of Scotland, and a vote to stop the catastrophic consequences that Boris’s Brexit threatens. Fife didn’t vote for this mess; and neither did Scotland. Let’s escape Brexit, get on that lifeboat and give future generations the chance to chart Scotland’s future'.