We’ve hit the summer with ominous clouds having over the country, literally and figuratively, a month of almost non-stop rain while we’ve seen an increasingly desperate government.
By-elections don’t normally bode well for governments, in July the Conservatives lost two mammoth majorities and nearly lost in the ex-Prime Ministers old seat, leaving the current PM desperately looking for positives.
Cue the barrage of anti-climate initiatives, rolling back on endless Government plans to position himself as a ‘people’s champion’ when it comes to initiatives that improve our air quality and improve the green agenda.
As Europe has been literally burning, we have a Prime Minister throwing more fuel on the fire hoping for an upturn in the polls, aiming to write his own Cinderella story, from embarrassingly trying to pay for petrol a year ago, to claiming he is on the side of motorists this week (despite using a private jet to fly everywhere).
The Prime Ministers smoke and mirrors environmental policies are aimed at distraction us from the real failures of this Tory Government. In January, Rishi Sunak promised 5 pledges to the nation, to halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce national debt, tackle NHS waiting lists and stop the boats.
With apparent failure on all these targets likely given that our economy has been stagnating for much of 2023 with national debt rising, given that NHS waiting lists have increased, given that our immigration policy has been failure after failure, it’s easy to see why Rishi Sunak is trying to talk about anything else other than meeting these targets.
Closer to home we can see the damage the Tory government has delivered to our region. In the North East, the Tory Government has overseen a situation in which we regularly top the regional charts for inequality and poverty, while coming bottom for things such as average income.
It is becoming clear what voters think as I hold conversations with on the doorstep with lifelong tory voters, all of whom are furious with this government and their lack of action to tackle the real issues facing the country, fixated on squeezing core voters in key areas to avoid a cliff edge result at the next General Election.
In contrast, there is a different feel altogether at the doorstep when discussing the Labour Party, having consolidated the lead in the polls over the Government, it is becoming ever more apparent to voters that there really is only one option offering hope as we look forward, Labour.
Local residents see the benefit of Labour at every level of Government. They see councillors fighting for services. They see the Labour candidate for North East Mayor Kim McGuinness launch her campaign which will put tackling child poverty at the heart of everything. They see Labour’s frontbench pushing on vital policies to improve services like the NHS or working to offer devolution that will benefit our region. They see hope at every level.
It is becoming very clear that residents in my constituency of Blaydon are ready for Labour in power, working hard to transform our region.
We are committed to a real plan on levelling up, 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.
We would tackle vital issues around transport, bringing rail services back under public control and working with local leaders to implement a bus network that works for all out communities.
We are committed to tackling the energy crisis. We will work to ensure that our country is net-zero by 2030, protecting the futures of our children and the planet.
We would implement Great British Energy, a publicly owned energy company focusing on producing more energy at home and utilising renewables making energy bills cheaper.
We would undertake the biggest workforce expansion plan in NHS history, employing more doctors and nurses to tackle the backlogs caused by tory underfunding.
We don’t yet know when the next General Election will be, but it is clear that Labour is ready to give Britain its future back.
