Glaswegians are certainly living in interesting times. I have lived in this city my whole life and never thought I’d witness a political earthquake of the magnitude we are currently experiencing.

For SNP activists Glasgow was never traditionally fertile territory. The old cliché about weighing up the votes in some parts of Glasgow as opposed to counting them was often close to the truth. I remember campaigning as a young(er!) activist in the North East of Glasgow unable to understand why people kept telling me that they voted Labour because their father, grandfather and generations before them always did. I tried my best to persuade them but that tradition of voting for Labour seemed too ingrained to ever change.

However, Scotland has changed fundamentally over the last decade, none more so than our own city of Glasgow. The political map of the city is almost beyond recognition with the SNP now having the most number of MSP in the city and every single MP too.

This is not because the people of Glasgow have simply become bored with voting Labour and transferred their support to the SNP. What we are witnessing is a political awakening where people rightly expect their politicians to stand up for them tooth and nail regardless of the colour of their rosette.

The SNP only exists to serve the people of Scotland, we have no London HQ or other masters that we have to pay lip service to over our constituents. That is why people up and down the country have put their trust in us.

Last week saw a remarkable set of results in Glasgow council by-elections, where the SNP won all four seats being contested in the City. These were not small victories, for example the SNP’s share of the vote in Calton in the East End of Glasgow was 55.5%, this was up over 25% since 2012. These are all seats that were won by Labour on first preferences in 2012.

The scale of this victory is partly to do with the fact people recognise that the SNP is both competent and will stand up for them. However, time and time again on the doorstep the people of Glasgow were telling me that they felt that Glasgow City Council was arrogant, complacent and unaccountable. So many decisions had been made while ignoring the wishes of those it affected – from closing down vital day care services, cutbacks to social services right the way through to the perilous state of some of our roads. Add to this that the fact that the ruling Labour administration seems more obsessed with jockeying for leadership positions and in-fighting as opposed to standing up for their constituents.

In this is a vital lesson for all political parties, including the SNP – woe to anyone who ignores the people, they will feel it at the ballot box. Only too right.