Last week saw me at the Glasgow Economic Leadership board. That's a panel of some of Glasgow's heavy hitters in the business world, all led by Sir Jim Macdonald, the Principal of Strathclyde University. GEL, as it's known, aims to drive Glasgow's economy to greater and greater heights. Hearing the reports there left me inspired about what Glasgow has achieved in the recent past, but also it's prospects to realise it's huge potential in the future.

Two statistics should be enough. Glasgow is the fastest growing city in the UK with an annual economic growth touching 7%. That outstrips London, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Manchester, to name a few. That makes the Glasgow economy worth almost £20bn a year. And the second fact to go along with that is that in the last ten years Glasgow has the third highest level of commercial property investment in the UK. The cranes on the city skyline are evidence of that.

I think that allows me to say that Labour is Good for Glasgow. That's not to say we still don't have problems - the scale of long term unemployment being one - but think of what could be achieved if there was a government in Holyrood that was giving Glasgow a fair deal. That brings me to the election looming for the Scottish Parliament.

In just over a week Scots will again be faced with an important choice about the sort of country they want Scotland to be, the sort of parliament they want Holyrood to become. Of course my choice is for Kezia Dugdale and Scottish Labour - we need you to vote Labour in both ballots on May 5 - because it's her policies that will deliver a fairer deal for Glasgow and a fairer deal for Scotland.

Kezia Dugdale is the only candidate for First Minister prepared to tax the fat cats and their vested interests. According to the Institute of Public Policy Research, Scottish Labour’s tax plan would raise an extra £900m to invest in services like Education. That's almost a billion pound a year to ensure that every Scots child has an education that offers them a chance to make the best of the opportunities that life can offer.

Kezia Dugdale is the only candidate for First Minister who wants to give councils, like ours, the power, and the money to choose a different path to Tory austerity.

To continue our ground-breaking apprenticeship and job scheme that has provided over 6,500 jobs to youngsters as well as over 50s.

To reach our target of building 25,000 new homes across the city by 2025.

To build on our £250m investment in our city’s primary school buildings to give Glasgow’s youngest children the best schools in Scotland.

A government that's on your side which understands that winning elections is only the beginning of change and not change in itself.

As far as population numbers are concerned, I doubt if Glasgow makes it into the world's top 500. But as we know Glaswegians are accustomed to punching above their weight. So step up to the plate Glasgow and take the applause - last week voted number five in the list of the world's top sporting cities. Number five ranked us above Manchester, LA, Tokyo, Sydney, Berlin and Amsterdam among many others.

So why did we take fifth prize? Well there's no secret. We've invested hundreds of millions of pounds into sports facilities in the city in the last ten years - £350m to be exact. That includes local bowling greens, football pitches and sports centres as well as the Big Tickets like the Emirates Arena and Velodrome, the Toryglen Football Centre, and the Tollcross Olympic Pool.

In the same poll carried out by the Ultimate Sports Cities Awards Glasgow came first in the world for the development of legacy from major sporting events. Proof that the Labour city council has kept its promises on making sure our citizens benefited from our taking on big events. I'm immensely proud of that but I'm also determined to make sure that achievements like this for Glasgow just keep on coming. Labour is Good for Glasgow right enough.