Rightly those voters will look at the services this council provides and decide which candidate and party they think has the record and vision to represent them.

I and my fellow Labour councillors have been out campaigning hard on behalf of our outstanding candidate Martin McElroy in the passionate belief that we have a strong record and a compelling platform with which to win the by-election.

Central to this message is the pride that I and my team have in Glasgow. We are passionately proud of our city and will always stand up for Glaswegians. We don't take electoral success for granted, it is an honour to represent this city.

That is why I am so angry when I hear the SNP saying they want to seize control of this council at the local government elections next May as a stepping stone to an independence referendum. Neither the Hillhead by-election nor the May elections are about independence – they are about providing vital services that all Glaswegians rely on.

So I have a message for the SNP establishment in Edinburgh. Nobody uses Glasgow or Glaswegians as stepping stones.

Glasgow Labour has a record to be proud of. This was the first council in Scotland to introduce the Living Wage, and we've ensured this has been increased each year. Last year I introduced the Commonwealth Jobs Fund to tackle youth unemployment.

We also have the best council apprenticeship programme in the UK becoming the first to guarantee an apprenticeship place to every school leaver who qualifies.

And we were first to freeze council tax.

There are 100 Glasgow schools in fantastic new buildings because of Labour. But there hasn't been one single new-build school commissioned in this city since Alex Salmond became First Minister.

While I and my team are standing up for Glasgow their councillors are taking orders from Edinburgh. When the SNP cancelled the Glasgow Airport Rail Link, SNP councillors in this city rushed to delete pages from their website which until then claimed they supported it.

And they jumped to defend the Scottish Government when Glasgow was given the worst budget settlement in Scottish local government – 32nd out of 32.

Glasgow Nats act like the Edinburgh government's mat, instead of standing up for the city's interests.

In contrast I and my team are laying out the policies and the vision that will push Glasgow forward.