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At the General Election, people in Wakefield and Rothwell voted for change. They voted to rebuild Britain after fourteen years of stagnant growth and declining public services under the Tories.
Last month's Budget – the first Labour Budget in fifteen years – sent a clear message that this Labour Government is fixing the foundations of our economy.
Successive Tory Governments let our public services decline to historic lows. People across Wakefield and Rothwell were worse off, with spiralling NHS waiting lists, decimated community policing and schools quite literally crumbling.
This Budget rejects a return to austerity and instead delivers the growth and investment in our vital services that people have been crying out for.
This Budget delivers investment in our NHS, with extra £25.6 billion over the next two years to help us deliver 40,000 extra appointments a week and put the focus on increased care into the community.
This Budget gives our children the tools they need to succeed by recruiting 6,500 new teachers, filling staffing gaps in key subjects and tackling staff retention issues.
Communities across the country have seen the continuous deterioration of neighbourhood policing over the last fourteen years. This Budget puts us on track to boost frontline policing with 13,000 extra officers and PCSOs to restore communities’ confidence that crimes will be dealt with.
Our budget will increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour, and the National Minimum Wage for 18-20 year olds will rise to £10 an hour, its largest ever increase – directly assisting working people.
This Budget marks a new start for our public services- investment over austerity.
We will also set about righting some of the injustices of the past.
As an MP for a former coalfield community, I know the pain that so many former miners and their families have had to endure from the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme.
I was delighted to hear Rachel Reeves announce £1.5bn to end this injustice and deliver for the 112,000 former mineworkers who fell foul of this scheme. Including, 761 families across Wakefield and Rothwell.
This represents an average of £125 a month boost for those mineworkers.
We owe our mining communities a huge debt for powering our nation’s industries.
This commitment delivers on our manifesto pledge and delivers justice after decades of waiting.
At this Budget we faced a choice - continue with decline or chart a new course for our communities.
This Labour Government is choosing to protect working people and invest in our economy to get it moving again.
Labour will ensure that working people won’t face higher taxes in their payslip and have the public services they can rely on.
We are choosing a new path for Britain.
An NHS that is there when you need it. Businesses confident to invest in Britain to create opportunities. A minimum wage that genuinely makes work pay.
This Budget will not solve all the country’s ills overnight, but it sets the foundations for a new era of national renewal towards a brighter future.