I AM delighted that the Scottish Government will match in full the funding announced by the UK Government for Glasgow as part of the Cities Deal, meaning that even more jobs and private sector investment will now be brought to our city.

Yet under the headline figure of £500m initially touted by the UK Government, the details show that the proposal will give Glasgow just £15million extra for the first five years, with future years' funding contingent on a review at the end of the first five year period.

Although it may initially sound impressive, the yearly sum of £15 million is massively overshadowed by the Scottish Government's previous and continuing investment in Glasgow.

We have provided £1.1billion of capital funding to Glasgow City Council since 2008, years before this UK Government sat up and took notice of Scotland.

More recently, the Scottish Government has made huge investments in Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games, as well as the new Southern General hospital, Fastlink and improvements to the Glasgow Subway.

All of this amounts to £1.5billion in capital spend and investment in jobs and infrastructure, which is happening now to the benefit of Glaswegians.

The Scottish Government can also guarantee that this funding to Glasgow will continue when Scotland becomes independent, as Scottish cities will be one of the Government's top priorities.

Independence will provide Glasgow and Scotland with the full range of economic levers we need to grow our working population, increase productivity, boost exports and innovation and reindustrialise our economy.

The past fortnight has been Co-operatives Fortnight, and to show my support I visited Easthall Park, one of Glasgow's many housing co-operatives.

Based in Easterhouse, Easthall Park is a fully mutual co-operative, owned and controlled by its tenants.

It was formed in 1992 and has always defined itself as being more than a housing provider, delivering a wide range of vital housing and community services.

There is a strong tradition in Glasgow and the West of Scotland of co-operatives and as memberships of co-ops continue to grow, it is great to see a local co-op being so successful and an important part of the community.

I ALSO enjoyed their recent mini-Commonwealth Games, I won't tell Evening Times readers what place I came in the sack race!

Recently, I also had the pleasure of visiting the Scottish Business Archives at Glasgow University, which holds important collections of business records from Scotland from the 18th century onwards.

It was fascinating to see the wide variety of businesses that have started in Glasgow and across Scotland, and it definitely shows how this city led the way in industries such as ship building and mining.

The collections include the House of Fraser Archive, which charts the history of House of Fraser from the small drapery shop on the corner of Argyle Street and Buchanan Street in Glasgow which opened in 1849, to the present figure of more than 200 stores.

It makes me very proud that so many businesses with great heritages began in Glasgow.