July Speech to Sheffield Council

The Queens speech was noticeably short on detail, substance or any vision rather like the current government, nothing to address fairness, equality or raising people out of poverty.

The test for this Queens speech was to show that it could make a difference to the lives of ordinary people.

One question of this Queens speech is does it offer a new direction or is a repeat of the tired old broken Tory rhetoric, the rhetoric of a right wing, divisive, uncaring party propped up by a Liberal party rejected in May by the electorate.

Many people in the Country feel that Britain doesn’t work for them and hasn’t done so for a long time.

They don’t feel that their hard work is rewarded.

They feel that all the effort and hard work they put in is not rewarded in a fair share of the wealth of this country.

They worry about the future for their children and if they will have a better life than their parents.

The Governor of the Bank of England spoke recently to say inequality was now one of the biggest challenges in our country.

The electorate will judge us on our response to this.

I think most people believe that if you work hard you should be able to make ends meet financially.

If you do the right thing you will be rewarded.

But many people know that the reality of life in the UK today is that hard work is not rewarded.

During the recent elections I spoke to a number of people who told me that despite having a job they didn’t know from week to week if they would have any income as they are on zero hours contracts.

One in five people in work are now low paid.

The majority of people in poverty are in work not out of work.

Labour would pledge to raise the minimum wage closer to average earnings.

Labour will ensure that if you are working regular hours, for month after month you will be entitled to a regular contract not a zero hours contract.

The Bank of England has also warned that the failure to build homes ins their biggest worry.

We are currently building half the homes we need.

There is a problem of developers getting planning permission, sitting on land and waiting for it to accumulate in value.

Nationally there are land banks with planning permission for over half a million homes.

Labour would give Councils the power to force developers to use the land or lose it.

Would give Councils the right to grow where they need more land for housing.

Would commit to getting 200 000 homes built a year.

This is what in the 1950’s a One Nation Prime Minister did.

There is a problem with the banks not serving the real economy

Businesses desperate to expand to invest, to grow can’ get the capital they need.

The current coalition has utterly failed to stand up to their banker friends.

Labour would break up the large banks so we tackle our uncompetitive banking systems.

We would create regional banks that properly serve small business.

Devolve economic powers to the major Cities, power over skills, economic development and transport.

There is another area where the Coalition are telling people there is nothing to be done.

Gas and electric bills

It’s eight months since Labour started the campaign for a freeze on peoples energy bills.

Two weeks ago figures released showed Companies have doubled their profit margins.

The companies can afford this freeze, the people need it, Labour would deliver it.

Another area of concern people raised with we in May is the issue of immigration.

I believe immigration has been good for our country.

People coming to the UK bring much needed skills, they pay tax, and they pay national insurance they contribute greatly to the life of this country.

Some people think we cut cur ourselves off from the rest of the world and withdraw from the EU.

They are wrong.

We have always done better when we engage with the rest of the world.

Labour believes it is not in our national interest to walk away from a huge single market on our door step to do so would be anti-investment, anti-jobs, anti-business.

The county has a choice next year, more of the same or a Labour Government that would.

Have a make work pay bill to reward hard work

A banking bill to support small businesses

A community bill to devolve power

A consumer bill to freeze energy bills

A housing bill to tackle the housing crisis

A NHS bill to stop it’s privatisation

To do all this we need a new Government a Labour Government.