There is no doubt that the biggest issue facing the people of Argyll and Bute right now is how to survive this current, Tory-made, cost-of-living crisis.

Not a day passes without someone contacting me or my office seeking advice about the spiralling cost of their mortgage repayments, the unaffordability of their weekly visit to the supermarket, or worrying about how they are going to endure another winter facing sky-high energy bills.

It is becoming ever more obvious that those contacting us asking for help are people who have never had to contact their MP before.

Increasingly the people who are coming to us now are from households where at least one adult is working full-time.

They’ve never needed to know where their local food bank is, they never imagined maxing-out their credit cards to fund the basics that they once took for granted, and they were confident when they took out their mortgage, that there would always be sufficient funds to keep a roof over them and their family.

Get unlimited access to the Helensburgh Advertiser's online content: www.helensburghadvertiser.co.uk/subscribe

These are seriously worrying times, with The Trussell Trust, which operates a wide network of food banks across the UK, revealing that almost three million emergency food parcels were given out in the last financial year, with over a million of those being used to feed hungry children.

And the reality is there are very few signs that it is going to improve anytime soon.

Indeed, many analysts predict there is worse still to come as the consequences of post-Brexit bureaucracy - which is due to be phased in this year, and which will involve more thorough checks on imports and higher inspection fees - could result in greater food shortages and force prices up even further.

So, on the basis that for every person who contacts their Member of Parliament with an issue, there are 100 who do not, I have decided to reach out to those thousands of struggling families who do not know where to turn to for help.

Over the coming weeks therefore, I will be delivering around 40,000 leaflets detailing where people in Argyll and Bute can get the help they need, whether that’s debt advice, the location of the nearest food bank, or help with their energy bills.

Never for a minute did I think when I was first elected in 2015 that eight years later I would be proactively advising working families in Argyll and Bute how to access their local food bank or signposting them to organisations which might help keep a roof over their head. But sadly, this is the tragic reality of this broken United Kingdom in 2023.

Scotland deserves so much better than this. You and your family deserve so much better than this.