The beginning of December marks that moment when we all get in the festive spirit. Opening advent calendars, shopping for Christmas gifts in a season to catch up with loved ones.
The month also offers us a chance to reflect, and with 2022, we have had a year of so many incredible moments. The lionesses, the Commonwealth Games and an outcry of love for Her Majesty The Queen.
In the political sphere, we have seen a year of complete chaos, corruption, and failure from start to finish.
2022 began with the Metropolitan Police opening an investigation on the then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, following a complete breakdown in trust with the British public over successive ‘partygate’ stories. Who knew that this would be the high point of trust in the Tory Government into 2022?
April saw Boris Johnson and the now Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak fined by the police following this investigation. It also saw Rishi and his wife hit the headlines furthermore as Rishi’s wife was found to be claiming ‘Non Dom’ status, benefiting from a loophole to save themselves from paying millions of pounds extra in UK tax. No wonder that yesterday Rishi still refused to close this loophole from which he directly benefits.
June brought a confidence vote from the Tories into the PM, surviving only to be toppled later in the month by the Chris Pincher scandal. Appointing ministers to positions who have a background of scandal and bullying is something that has happening seemingly throughout the year.
In September we got our new Prime Minister Liz Truss, who quickly become our old Prime Minister in October. In just 44 days she managed to send the economy into freefall, oversaw rocketing interest rates and a plunged to record lows public approval.
In October we also got our 3rd Prime Minister in 2022, Rishi Sunak, who stood on the steps of Downing Street and promised a Government of “integrity and accountability”, shortly before appointing Suella Braveman, 6 days after she resigned for breaking the ministerial code. Since this, we have seen several accounts and reports of bullying aired in the press from those he appointed, leading to the resignation of Gavin Williamson, and Dominic Raab facing an inquiry into his actions.
In 2022, we’ve had 3 Prime Ministers, 4 Chancellors and a total of 147 ministerial resignations.
No wonder we have seen record living costs, inflation almost doubling, huge interest rate hikes, record levels of sewage pumped into our rivers, a migrant crisis, strike action, record queues at airports, huge backlogs in the NHS and an energy crisis.
What confidence do you have that the Conservatives are the people improve this in 2023?
Labour have been pushing at every moment of 2022, forcing the Government into much needed U-turns. We pushed and pushed for the Tories to implement a windfall tax, we opposed the inhumane ‘Rwanda plan’ and we have been openly critical of the Government, who still refuse to get round the table and work to end the strike action.
It is now clear, Labour is the only party with a plan for the future of our country.
We are committed to tackling the energy crisis, building our energy security and investing in renewables to make bills cheaper. We will work to ensure that our country is net-zero by 2030, protecting the futures of our children and the planet.
We will tackle the huge backlogs in our NHS, employ more doctors and nurses, creating lower waiting times and introduce a National Care Service that fixes our long-term problems around social care.
We are committed to a real plan on levelling up, bringing our railways back under public control, delivering a landmark shift in skills and training to drive growth and equip our communities for the future. We would invest in our high streets by tackling the issues around business rates which hit local shop owners and not huge global digital corporations.
December is a month in which reflection is welcome and it provides a clear indicator as to who is working in the interest of the people of the North East.
Only Labour can deliver the fresh start that the country needs.
