Ian Lavery MP column: A message of hope to restore trust in communities is needed

They voted for it at last year’s general election and the appetite for real transformation remains strong.

While the Labour government has taken some positive steps – beginning to reverse decades of anti-trade union legislation, tackling the NHS backlog and making early moves to address child poverty – much more is needed.

In both style and substance, the party has not yet been bold enough. It has hesitated to confront the vested interests that dominate our society or to reshape the state into one that genuinely serves the people it should be there to support.

Meanwhile, Parliament is being steadily dragged to the right, pulling us into increasingly dangerous political territory. Politics abhors a vacuum and Labour’s failure to fully occupy the progressive space on the left will inevitably invite others to fill it.

My hope is that we can finally move past the factionalism of recent years and focus instead on building a compelling, unifying vision for the country.

We must articulate a message of hope and solidarity – one that can restore trust and confidence in communities across the UK.

These are communities that deserve not just to survive, but to thrive. That, after all, is the very purpose the Labour Party was founded to serve.

We live in an increasingly volatile world, where demagogues and dictators make decisions with global consequences.

In this context, the UK has an opportunity – and a responsibility – to chart a different course. We can be a beacon for progressive politics at a time when it is urgently needed.

But to do so, Labour must rediscover its confidence and recommit to its mission: to improve the lives of the many, not the few.

Residents in the Blyth and Ashington constituency can contact my office by calling 01670 852494 or emailing [email protected] and there are also regular updates that are posted on my Facebook page (Ian Lavery MP).