When I take to the stage at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool today, it couldn’t be clearer that this country needs a change of government.
Last week’s mini-budget demonstrates how economically illiterate and morally bankrupt the Tories are. They have lifted the cap on bankers’ bonuses and given a tax cut to those at the very top.
We were right to cheer the removal of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister but Liz Truss is worse. He didn’t believe in anything, apart from himself. With her shameless right-wing ideology, Truss is more dangerous than Margaret Thatcher.
In the UK today, we have parents – particularly mothers – being forced to skip meals to feed their children. We also have families being forced to dig up their own gardens to grow food.
The cost of living crisis is a humanitarian emergency that is affecting millions of people. The need for action could not be greater.
But the new Prime Minister would rather try a Thatcher tribute act and boost bankers’ bonuses than help those in need. After 12 years of economic failure and bribes for billionaires, we deserve better. And that is the job of my party this week – to prove we are worthy of your trust come the next Westminster election.
For the last 12 years we’ve had a Tory Government which has actively sought to pit community against community. They wasted billions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash on dodgy contracts, vanity projects and giveaways to party donors.
They have cut stamp duty for second home-owners and handed super tax deductions for the biggest companies. They put up taxes for Amazon workers but let Amazon hide profits in tax havens.
They accept poverty and misery as a price worth paying for a society that redistributes wealth to the wealthy. So it’s clear that the sooner we boot these corrupt charlatans out of office the better. And only Labour can do that.
Only Labour can build a coalition of the people across these islands to get rid of a party that puts billionaires before getting the basics right. But it isn’t enough that the Tories or the SNP deserve to lose – Labour needs to deserve to win.
This week you will see a party that is on your side and focused on putting our country back on the right track. That is the job of politics, giving people the power to change their lives for the better.
In Downing Street and Bute House, they know the clock is ticking. People across the country are anxious and angry – and want and need change.
To boot the Tories out, Labour must bring all of those who are bearing the brunt of Tory misrule together. Across Britain there is a majority – of those who have borne the brunt of the politics of austerity and cuts, a majority of workers who are on the frontline of our economy from the pandemic to the current crisis, a majority of the people that can sweep the Tories from power.
Together we can turn the tide and build the brighter tomorrow this country needs.
Waiting list figures show lack of progress
It’s been 14 months since the SNP Government published its so-called catch-up plan.
When it was published in August 2021, 603,000 people were on a waiting list – now it’s 750,000. Nicola Sturgeon cannot blame this all on Covid.
When the SNP came to power, there were 260,000 people on NHS waiting lists. By the time Covid hit, this had already risen to 420,000 – now it’s 750,000. That’s now one in seven people in Scotland on an NHS waiting list.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Government has been breaking records for the worst A&E waiting times week after week, with 38,255 waiting more than 12 hours since the recovery plan was published. Last week we discovered that life expectancy has dropped again for a second year running.
People are sick of the same old excuses and this SNP Government are always looking for someone else or something else to blame. People are still getting the same inadequate answer from this Government – wait.
Wait in fear for a cancer diagnosis. Wait in pain for a hip replacement. Wait for hours in an ambulance outside A&E. Wait anxiously for their child to get mental health treatment.
After 15 years in government, people shouldn’t have to wait any longer for the SNP to do their job and fix our NHS.
We need to Pool all our resources
Labour’s conference this year is in the fantastic city of Liverpool.
The SNP wants to pretend that the political divide in the UK is Scotland v England.
But working people in Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff and Liverpool share the same values and priorities and all need a Labour government.
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