Scotland and the whole of the UK is facing big challenges but after three wasted years of government under the Tories and their Lib Dem allies, this month's Queen's Speech was another wasted opportunity.

It was a no-answers Queen's Speech from a tired and failing government that is out of touch, out of ideas and unable to bring about the change people in West Dunbartonshire desperately need.

The government's record is one of economic failure and it is the people who are simply trying to get by and do the right thing who are footing the bill.

With prices rising faster than wages, the economy flatlining and one million young people out of work the Tory-led government's priority this April was to cut taxes by an average of �100,000 for 13,000 people earning over �1 million. Policies like this are not going to help people in West Dunbartonshire trying to make ends meet and worrying about energy bills, food bills, and paying the rent or mortgage.

The perfect opportunity for Cameron and Clegg to demonstrate which lessons have been learnt came earlier this month when the Queen opened Parliament and delivered a speech outlining the government's priorities for the year ahead. But instead, in its deafening silence, the government demonstrated how utterly out of touch it is.

Labour Leader Ed Milliband presented our alternative Queens' Speech with a clear plan for turning things round. Our alternative includes: a Jobs Bill to put in place a Compulsory Jobs Guarantee; a Finance Bill that would kick-start our economy and help make work pay with a 10p rate of tax, and scrap the millionaires tax cut; a Consumers Bill to tackle rip-off energy bills and hidden pension charges; a Banking Bill that backs business with a real UK and Scottish Investment Bank and an Immigration Bill with economic measures to put an end to workers having their wages undercut illegally by employers exploiting migrant labour.

Let's be clear, the solution to Scotland's problems is not to erect divisions between us and the rest of the UK, it is to introduce measures like these. The Scottish Government are doing Scots no favours by sitting on the sidelines and waiting for things to get worse.

They should be straining every sinew to make things better now, not exploiting folk's misery in the hope that that makes them more likely to opt for their confused and unclear vision for a separate Scotland. We need a change of government, not a change of borders.