FOR ANYONE wearing a red rosette, the morning after the recent general election wasn't short on disappointments.

But, perhaps, the biggest of all will turn out to be missing the opportunity to set a new course on welfare after five shambolic years of half-baked reforms and full-blooded cuts.

Instead of supporting people into work that pays a decent wage, Iain Duncan Smith has left individuals and communities poorer, while failing to save the taxpayer a single penny.

And, sadly, a Tory majority in the Commons is going to do nothing to persuade him to think again.

While working families will be worst affected by their reforms, already hundreds of pensioners and private tenants across Glasgow are facing a new crisis, due to a huge cut in a key housing budget which will hit this city harder than any other.

Across the UK, core funding for Discretionary Housing Payments will fall by 25% in the current financial year.

However, the amount allocated to Glasgow will be slashed by a staggering 80%.

Where we used to spend £1.2m, helping pensioners and private tenants keep a roof over their heads, Glasgow will be told to make do with £220,000.

The consequences, I fear, will be dire. Arrears will lead to evictions, which will lead to homelessness.

This will create human misery and be more expensive for the taxpayer in the long run.

If this sounds familiar, it was only a year ago that a deal was done to kill off the Bedroom Tax in Scotland.

My Labour colleagues put forward a plan to top-up the amount available in Discretionary Housing Payments - which didn't so much abolish the Bedroom Tax, but allowed councils and housing associations to make sure their tenants wouldn't feel it bite.

John Swinney backed these plans and included the deal in his budget - while the Scotland Office, to its credit, ensured powers to overturn spending caps put in place by Iain Duncan Smith were passed to Scotland.

The vote in parliament took ten seconds; the whole process, not much more than two months.

In recent years, much has been made of the divisions and the disagreements in Scottish politics - which is only to be expected.

However, the Labour and SNP deal to shut the door on the Tories' Bedroom Tax should remind us that we share a common approach on many policy matters.

It was also a reminder of the possibilities of devolution; if we are bold enough to use the powers we have in the interests of our citizens rather than to advance any other political agenda.

The cut facing households in Glasgow that rely on Discretionary Housing Payments demands the same decisive action.

As things stand, Glasgow will not be allowed to use any of the extra money available to help hundreds of pensioners and private tenants who could face eviction. Current rules mean non-Bedroom Tax cases need not apply.

But the crisis looming for these tenants, many of them among the most vulnerable, is no less severe than that created by the Bedroom Tax.

I don't believe we can top-up a benefit for one group of tenants and ignore another - and I have written to Ministers in Edinburgh urging that both be given the same priority.

Working together - across all levels of government and political boundaries - we can help.

THE post-election rush to repeal the ban on hunting foxes with dogs tells you everything you need to know about this government's priorities. Same old Tories.

All over the country, including here in Glasgow, people are looking to their government for help to create jobs, improve education and health services, and give hope to the next generation that they have a future to look forward to.

There is so much that government should be doing.

It shouldn't waste time changing the law to allow a privileged few to dress up like the staff of the world's bleakest holiday camp, gallop through fields tooting a bugle, until a pack of dogs rip a fox limb-from-limb.

Most if us instinctively deplore the idea of inflicting unnecessary suffering on animals for pleasure or entertainment - whether it takes place in Glasgow, Glamorgan or Guadalupe.

When this issue comes before parliament our city will have seven votes in the Commons.

I'd love to see Glasgow's new SNP MPs stand up to the Tories and send them a clear message - we don't support the barbaric 15th century hobbies of a few redcoats on horseback.

Working people in Glasgow and across Britain have other far more pressing priorities.