THIS Week marks 100 days since the General Election and the SNP turned history on its head as Scotland elected 56 of the party’s MPs to Westminster.

The nationalists swept the board in Glasgow sending a seven strong team of MPs to the House of Commons.

This week the Evening Times Political Correspondent STEWART PATERSON speaks to the city’s MPs and some opponents to see how they have performed and what others think of them.

Today, Glasgow North MP, PATRICK GRADY and Glasgow East MP, NATALIE McGARRY give their view of the first 100 days and how the future is shaping up.

YOU ain’t seen nothing yet is the message from Glasgow MPs after their first taste of life in the front line at Westminster.

Following a run of high profile debates and controversies in the House of Commons the parliament is in recess for the summer.

However, the city’s seven new MPs say they will be working locally and preparing for the resumption of parliamentary battle lines in the Autumn.

Glasgow North MP, Patrick Grady, said after the summer the rest of the parliament will get to know the SNP even more and their influence will be felt more widely.

Glasgow East MP, Natalie McGarry, said she and her colleagues had been underestimated by many but they were showing their ability and were already seeing signs of success.

Mr Grady said the SNP has stated its intentions firmly and others now know what to expect.

The first to be declared in Glasgow on election night, he said the others didn’t know what to expect from his colleagues.

He said: “There were some MPs who thought we were either going to be these dabbed in woad, braveheart types or these wee cowerin’ timorous beasties sitting at the back.

“And actually we’ve turned out to be a very capable bunch of human beings.

“I think you seen that from the maiden speeches, people were asking when will the run of good speeches end.”

He said he will not forget why he is at Westminster in the first place.

He said: “The constituency work is of vital importance, that’s why we’re here.

“Some folk say to me ‘Oh you live in London now?’ I don’t live in London. I live in Glasgow I work in London three or four days a week on behalf of my constituents.”

He said: “We’ve started as we mean to go on. We’ve made the political running in the six weeks or so we’ve been here.”

He lists Government climbdowns on English Votes for English Laws, fox hunting, and the Human Rights Act as early examples of how the SNP can have an impact on a slim Tory majority.

He added: “Everything that’s happened down here has had an SNP hand in it.

“We want that to continue and we will be working hard to make sure it does.

“We wanted to be part of a progressive alliance, we wanted to lock the Tories out, but what we said was we should be a visible progressive presence and I think that’s what we’ve been.”

He defended the decision to intend to vote against overturning the fox hunting ban in England and said it was in keeping with the party’s statements.

He said: “It all comes back to listening to our constituents. Fox hunting is an example of that. I had lots of letters from constituents and even for people in England urging to vote against.

“I had well in excess of 500 e mails and a significant proportion were from south of the border.

“They said lead the UK or leave it. Well here we are trying to lead.”

Ms McGarry defeated one of Labour’s highest profile Scottish MPs, Margaret Curran, in the face of an onslaught of labour big hitters and the constituency flooded with resources.

She said if anyone thinks the SNP group would be doing anything other than carrying on where it left off when Parliament resumes, they can think again.

She said: “We have a focus and a purpose a lot of them don’t have and I think some thought we would go away early on.

“We’ve wanted independence for a long time, we’ve been playing a long waiting game. This is about Scotland’s representation in the House.

“We are extremely determined, all of us, to make we continue a high level of engagement in the house and you’re going to see more when we move into the new term after the recess.

“We’re all finding our feet in committees and how to secure debates.”

Ms McGarry also said the SNP has opened the eyes of some people entrenched in Westminster.

She said: “A Tory Lord old me the level of engagement was something they wished they could see from their new MPs.

“People underestimated us and thought we were a rag-tag bag of nationalists instead they’ve been surprised by the quality of maiden speeches and the ability and the quickness of us to able to achieve and hit the ground running.

“With 56 MPs we have to be able to make an impact.”

She said it is not all about Westminster though and work in the constituency seeking solutions to local problems is a priority.

She said: “I’m going to be a campaigning MP.

“Lots of things need to be improved in Glasgow East, it’s not going to be done in a day.

“People are on low wages, hopefully secure action on wages a Living wage not the Tories’ living wage which is the minimum wage with some bells.”

She identifies investment as a priority to bring businesses and jobs to the communities

She said: “The key issues are wages, poverty, housing and jobs, also there’s anti social behaviour, which a lot of people have contacted me about.

“I want to examine link between poverty, disability and Ill health. Which Sir Harry Burns has done a lot of work on. We need to tackle child poverty to tackle adult poverty.”

TOMORROW: THE View from Labour and Tory Veterans. Diane Abbott and John Redwood