We will take power out of the hands of Whitehall and give it back to the public - Louise Haigh

What this fiasco tells us about the Conservatives is their resounding message, their pitch to the country, their plan for Britain, can be summed up in three words: ‘no we can’t’.

And in its place - what did they give the north? Roads that don’t exist, trams that had already been built, and a train line ditched by tea time. Is it any wonder people can't believe a single word they say?

It’s clear, we cannot afford five more years of this.

While sole traders see petrol prices soar and care workers wonder how on earth they will afford their car insurance, the Tories had literally nothing to say about the cost of living crisis. They were too busy talking to the fringe in their party, to tackle the issues facing the country. Labour won’t stand by as families suffer, we will act.

That’s why the plan I have announced will take action on rip-off prices at the petrol pump…and crack down on unfair car insurance fees hitting people hard.

Because whether its commuters stranded on trains, pensioners stuck at the bus stop, or drivers seeing petrol prices soaring. People know that under the Conservatives, Britain just isn’t working for them. It’s our job to change that.

After 13 years, that change feels difficult to imagine - people feel powerless. That’s why the easy option would be to do nothing. But that’s not who we are in Labour.

Our message, our pitch to the country, our plan is to deliver the biggest reform of public transport in more-than a generation.

Taking power out of the hands of Whitehall. Out of the hands of operators. And giving it back to the public, where it belongs.

Take the Conservative’s failing bus system. It doesn’t matter what communities do or say, because they have no power to change it. For years, for decades, people have said we need to fix this.

The next Labour government will do it. And we will do it by giving the public back control of the bus services they depend on.

Last month in Greater Manchester we saw a glimpse of what that could mean with our brilliant mayor Andy Burnham, but only a handful of areas can follow his lead.

So I can confirm - one of the first acts of a Labour government will be to hand every area of England the power to take back control of its bus services and lift the ban on municipal ownership too because after years of decline, we want to give the public power again.

We have to fix our broken railways too because the Conservatives’ view is that the country which created the railways, can no longer build them. They believe all our major competitors can do it, but not us.

It’s not the skill and in genuity of British workers and British industry that’s the problem. It’s the chaos and incompetence of the Conservatives.

An abridged version of a speech delivered by Louise Haigh, Labour MP for Sheffield Heeley and Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, at the Labour Party Conference.