Let’s build a better Yorkshire and a better Britain together - Rachel Reeves

This local election campaign, as the MP for Leeds West and Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, I’ll be getting out on the doors across Yorkshire to deliver a crucial message: Labour has a solid long-term plan to give Britain back its future.

That’s not built from knee-jerk sticking plaster solutions, but instead by a mission-driven government that step by step will improve the lives of working people.

It starts with our plans to help with the cost of living crisis, cut crime and cut NHS waiting lists. Every penny of our plan is fully-funded and fully-costed.

I know the cost of living crisis is not over. That every day, families are watching energy bills, food prices and taxes all go up, while nothing seems to work as well as it used to.

Across Armley, Pudsey and Shipley, I’ve spoken to families who are struggling to make ends meet, to pensioners worried about crime in their local streets, to business owners who are brimming with ideas but facing challenges on almost every front.

The reality is that the hit to living standards over the past two years is the largest since records began. I commend the Yorkshire Post for highlighting the impact of that over recent years – and feel strongly that our much cherished paper should continue to be able to speak truth to power without intimidation from any MP.

Findings released by Labour this weekend show that since December 2019, the essentials of housing, fuel and power have gone up by £1,480; food and non-alcoholic drinks have gone up by £700; clothing and footwear have gone up by £140; household goods and services have gone up by £360; and transport has gone up by £800.

That comes to a total increase of £3,500 on the cost of essentials alone – a price many households won’t be able to afford, forcing them to cut back.

And now – across the country, council tax is about to go up by an average of 5 per cent, a move forced on local authorities by the government.

By reducing funding to councils and then granting them additional ‘flexibilities’ to raise council tax, this Tory government is effectively forcing councils to put up council tax across Yorkshire.

Politics is all about choices, and a Labour Government would not stand for this. First, we would freeze your council tax in Yorkshire for this year. We’d pay for that by finally bringing in a proper windfall tax on the booming profits of oil and gas giants, who have pocketed huge gains during this energy crisis.

Labour authorities across the country only raise council tax on residents as a last resort. We know this because the average band D council tax in Labour areas is £72 lower than in Tory ones. We know the value of money.

Second, we must tackle the anti-social behaviour and crime that is far too prevalent in communities across Yorkshire, including in Armley which I represent and where we desperately need more police on the beat.

To deal with the crime on our streets, the next Labour government will prevent crime, punish criminals and protect communities with tougher sentences and 13,000 extra neighbourhood police and PCSOs to crackdown on anti-social behaviour including in Yorkshire.

To combat the NHS crisis, a Labour government will train a new generation of doctors, nurses, and midwives, funded by removing the tax break for non-doms – the mega-rich few who live in Britain, but use a loophole to get out of paying their taxes here.

Labour will use the funds from that to also introduce Breakfast Clubs across every primary school to give our kids a great start to the day and help working parents get on. These are the kind of changes Yorkshire deserves.

Right now across our county, public services are under huge strain and families are struggling to make ends meet. Nothing in Yorkshire is working better than it did when the Tories took over 13 years ago. But it doesn’t have to be this way. It is time for a change.

Labour has a serious plan to tackle the cost of living crisis, we’ll take practical steps to make everyone feel safe in their homes and on their streets, and we will make sure you can get the health care you need.

Our mission to secure the highest growth in the G7 will create good jobs and productivity growth in every part of Britain, so everyone, not just a few, feel better off.

From our Green Prosperity Plan, to making Britain the best place to start and grow a business; from having our National Wealth Fund target geographical inequality, to scrapping business rates and replacing them with a fairer system – we have a solid long-term plan to make our mission for growth a reality.

Because for Labour, if Yorkshire succeeds, Britain succeeds.

On May 4, take your ID to your local polling station and vote Labour.

Let’s build a better Yorkshire and a better Britain, together.

Rachel Reeves is Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and Labour MP for Leeds West.