This is a difficult, turbulent time for the town as staff at its second biggest employer face an uncertain future. They need reassurance I am fighting hard to protect their jobs. For decades, people around the country have associated the town of Halifax with banking. More than 4,000 of my constituents work there. The knock-on economic benefits are huge. The survival of the company and the future success of Halifax go hand in hand.

So far, we have won the arguments that jobs should stay in the town. One job loss would be one too many in my opinion. Now we need to go one step further and win the battle. The current difficulties in my constituency underlines that no local community, no house, no person, no business will go unaffected by this global economic crisis. This was further demonstrated by the events surrounding the future of Bradford and Bingley over the weekend which today leaves another group of workers in Yorkshire facing uncertainty about their futures.

We are watching a truly historic period unfold right in front of our eyes. Yet, like watching a car crash in slow motion, we feel there is very little we can do about it. Or can we? In many ways this is a defining moment that provides a window of opportunity for reform, regulation and much needed changes to the world financial markets. Out of these dark days can come light.

This is not a crisis of heavy-handed governance, over regulation or state intervention. Quite the opposite. If this crisis had been left solely for the market to address, then I would not be campaigning to save people's jobs at HBOS. I would be campaigning to find them new ones.

Thankfully, Gordon Brown took decisive action to relax competition laws and enabled a market solution to a market problem to happen. There is still work to do. However, this action provided a framework for the future. At the Labour Party Conference, I was pleased to hear Gordon tell delegates that a world financial framework needs to be put in place. In many ways, our Prime Minister was ahead of his time when he called for this some years ago.

The problem is that no one listens until a crisis happens. Then suddenly everyone becomes wiser after the event. These are testing times we live in. When a Right-wing US President supports banks being nationalised we know how surreal things are.

Again, it shows that without this Government's action and support, thousands of jobs would have been lost. The real victim in this crisis are not the financiers who have lost millions on the markets, but the powerless facing job losses as the speculating goes on around them. The only speculating the people of Halifax are doing is whether they will keep their jobs. I have met Lloyds and HBOS managers to stress to them the importance of jobs staying in the town. I hear them talk about markets, money and takeovers, but all I want to hear about is them guaranteeing people's and HBOS's future.

So what is to be done? The world financial system has been an unregulated bully for too long and the victims are the millions of people who are working hard to pay their bills, support their children, fill their car with petrol. In the future when I hear people espousing a truly free market solution for making the economic system work I will remind them of this crisis. At a public meeting I organised in Halifax I listened to HBOS staff's concerns. They wanted to know their jobs were safe, their terms and conditions protected and their future secured. The role of Government is to provide the right market conditions to make that happen.

Gordon Brown knows that and is working hard to achieve his goal. As with many crises, it isn't until the history books are written that people realise the scope of what has actually happened. I see this as a fight between the powerful and the powerless. This is a fight that can be won. I will go on campaigning for jobs in Halifax until I know they are secure.

It's time we realised that an unregulated free market might offer profit, competition and choice, but doesn't guarantee people a job and a future when the going gets tough.

Working together with the unions and staff of HBOS, I am campaigning for jobs in Halifax and other towns affected by this crisis to be saved and secured. I will go on speaking up for the people I represent.

People across the world are beginning to realise that the free market alone cannot address all of society's ills. Now is the time to unite together for the great task of reform that lies ahead. Only that way can a better future be built. A future that empowers the powerless and reduces the power of the powerful.


Linda Riordan is the Labour MP for Halifax.