ONLY 10 weeks ago I was given the honour and privilege of representing the people of Glasgow South West at Westminster. Many of us are still coming to terms with the Tories securing a majority — albeit a small one, and with their lowest share of the vote in Scotland since universal suffrage. It’s also thanks to the first-past-the-post “winner takes all” voting system that they are in power without a genuine mandate, having received only 36 per cent of the vote.

Rather than playing a blame game about why Cameron is back at No 10, all of us in opposition need to work together to resist attacks by the most blindly partisan Tory government we’ve ever seen, designed to remove any opportunity for working people to defend themselves and to destroy trade unions.

I and the other SNP MPs are asked daily what our impressions of the House of Commons are. “Surreal” is the most apt description.

While I don’t deny there’s a class dimension to Scottish politics and civic society (we have privately schooled privileged elites in positions of power and influence, not least in the legal profession), there’s no denying the stark reality of looking across to the Westminster government benches and to seeing the class divide made flesh and reality.

Those of us on the left are used to being accused of pursuing a class-war agenda but the reality is Tory MPs talking the language of division and displaying outdated attitudes that will only render this country unfit for competing economically in the 21st century.

The Welfare Reform Bill is the prime example of this punish the poorest and devil take the hindmost world view. To sit and listen to arguments articulated by some of the most wealthy and well-connected people in the land about the deserving and undeserving poor is a profound culture shock. To be in the same room and not able to challenge that view unless it is framed in the correct procedural form according to Westminster tradition has been an interesting exercise in discipline. In a few short weeks we’ve had to respond to a government high on its unexpected victory determined to ram through its pernicious and damaging policy agenda without due regard for process.

The modern-day Sheriff of Nottingham — Chancellor George Osborne — blatantly lifted the phrase and concept of a “living wage” to justify the removal of tax credits. This was rightly condemned by STUC general secretary Grahame Smith as an insult to those who have campaigned tirelessly for the concept of a living wage for decades. The Tories have still to explain how a woman who is pregnant with a third child through rape is expected to apply for additional tax credits — a scandalous and crass statement that can be found on page 88 of the Budget Book.

So far, Tory ministers have shown stubborn resistance to any reasonable amendments to the Scotland Bill, and all informed analysis consistently shows that the Bill does not meet the Smith Commission agreement, let alone exceed it.

I did wonder if this reflected their ignorance of Scotland but sadly this is a cross-bench phenomenon. Perhaps one of the more bizarre moments for me was debating the devolving of employment law and health and safety legislation to the Scottish Parliament, only to be met with opposition from Labour MPs from a trade union background. I respectfully reminded them that the STUC and affiliates such as Unite and Unison support such a measure. It is with sorrow that I view the differing positions of the STUC and TUC in what powers should be developed and what should be reserved. We must meet this challenge in a comradely manner.

I will continue to advance the argument that employment law and health and safety legislation should be devolved for the betterment of working people across Scotland, and provide leadership and hope for our trade union friends across Britain.

We’re now moving on to the report stage of the Scotland Bill and this will provide the opportunity to introduce an amendment to devolve the Railways Act and give the Scottish Parliament the authority to decide whether these services should be provided by a publicly owned operator — which, in my experience, is what voters want.

As things stand the Labour Party is leaderless and this has resulted in mistakes being made by the party hierarchy in a number of areas — most notably on the votes on Welfare Reform Bill and on the Budget Bill. Why vote against every coalition Budget, only to abstain on the first Tory Budget? Reasoned amendments and procedural wheezes don’t cut it when it comes to protecting the poor and standing for principled positions, and kudos to those members who broke the whip — especially the new members — as that can’t have been easy.

I am encouraged that the left of the Labour Party is engaging with the SNP and other parties while some others remain distant and can’t bring themselves to acknowledge our existence. Actually that’s not completely accurate: for them to notice us they would have to be present in the chamber, as some members only seem to appear for Prime Minister’s Questions.

That may be the culture of the Commons but what does that say? I could go on about the procedural miasma developed by “tradition” and heavily weighted in favour of the government, but that’s for another day.

Despite all these factors there is hope. The Tories have a casual approach to legislation that demonstrates their ideological weakness and arguments. Cancelling a supposed free vote on fox hunting after the SNP stated we would vote on the issue exposed on their cavalier way of introducing English votes for English laws (Evel) — never has an acronym been more apt — and an early abandonment of plans to scrap EU human rights law are all indicators of attempting to legislate in haste only to repent at leisure.

The Trade Union Bill arrives at a moment when their casual approach can be tested to the fullest. We must now build a mass campaign to defeat it. The Bill is not just an attack on trade unions, but an attack on the largest group in society which stands up against exploitation. It is a timely reminder that the Tories still fear the trade union and labour movement, and a reminder that they know they can be defeated. It is a human rights issue and the campaign against the Bill must be framed not just on the obvious workplace issues, but the fundamental breach of human rights, as is the case in other parts of the world.

It will require a campaign against the attack on working people: one which keeps trade union members and their families to the fore, defeating the narrative of trade union “power brokers” and the implication that we are the undemocratic ones.

It will require a focus on the scant support the legislation has when public opinion is properly canvassed.

I will be playing my part by scrutinising every line, dot and comma, and working with anyone who opposes this flawed and undemocratic piece of legislation.

The most Orwellian moment since being elected so far was being told by a Tory minister that they were in favour of “modernising” trade union law. Only a Conservative minister could view a 19th-century approach to the world as modernisation.

• Chris Stephens is SNP MP for Glasgow South West.