ANOTHER month, another Prime Minister and no end in sight to the Tory chaos which has dominated our headlines for much of 2022.
In the new chapter of this ongoing Tory saga, it is Rishi Sunak who takes the reigns and tries to pull the wool over the countries eyes in pretending that decisions such as appointing Suella Braverman to a post she was sacked from the previous week is in the ‘national interest’.
We’ve seen Matt Hancock try to convince us that going onto ‘I’m a celebrity’ is to further the cause of politics, engaging with those not currently interested in the world of Westminster, and not what many people see as a means of taking his Westminster salary for a long holiday serving his own vanity.
We’ve also seen the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly tell LGBTQ+ football fans they should show respect to Qatar ahead of the world cup next month, despite the countries appalling record on LGBTQ+ rights.
We can’t forget the constant flip flopping from the Prime Minister himself on the future of our planet, unable to decide whether he will attend the COP27 summit, something which only a year ago played a huge role as the UK hosted the summit in Glasgow.
Not quite the start I suspect the Rishi Sunak would have wanted.
The Government is in turmoil and has been for months now. While the Tories quarrel, our country is in desperate need of answers.
Our whole economy seems to have shifted twice in a matter of months and it is looking more and more likely that austerity 2.0 will be the position of this ‘new’ Chancellor. A different supporting cast but the same old plot twist, that working people and public services will be expected to suffer to rebuild on the damage that this Conservative Government has created over the last 12 years. With every passing day there is a new hint that this Government will be ready to sacrifice lower and middle income earners to balance the spreadsheet, with nothing of f limits, including the triple lock on pensions and real term wage cuts for our nurses and teachers.
All the while the basic functions of Government almost cease to exist. Looking at our region, our local transport systems are in disarray, short term cancellations on our buses and a reduction of services are creating havoc on people’s daily lives, all something that the Government should be focussing on.
Back in April 2022, the Government announced that our region would receive £163m in funding for our buses through the ‘Bus Service Improvement Plan’, we are yet to see a single penny of this funding. The Transport Minister has changed twice since August, with them the agenda has also changed and at this time we don’t know whether this money will still be available to build of local transport offer. With the returning ‘doom and gloom’ policies of the Chancellor, much of the public investment plans could be scrapped.
This is a mess that the Tories created, they can’t be expected to be the ones who fix this.
Labour has a bold and different plan for our country. We are already leading the way through our Metro Mayors, with a cap on bus fares and an increased offer on public transport, creating reliability in our services.
On the economy, we will not waver in our commitment to making sure it is on stable and secure ground, and that every pound of taxpayers’ money is treated with respect. We would implement a proper windfall tax, ensuring that huge energy firms help foot the bill on this Tory crisis.
We would invest in Britain’s future, turning the UK in to a clean energy superpower by committing to net-zero by 2030. We’ve announced the creation of Great British Energy, a publicly owned energy company to tackle our energy security and produce more at home by utilising renewables.
Rishi Sunak has proved only one thing, that his Government are willing to continue putting party before country. Labour’s offer is ambitious, full of hope and will deliver for our country.
