‘The test for each generation is to pass something better to the next, but kids today are facing a worse future’, the former Health Secretary Wes Streeting writes
Voters sent a clear message in this month’s elections. Labour lost big time to nationalists in England, Scotland, and Wales.
Ploughing on regardless would be like sticking two fingers in our ears and another two up to the public.
Unless Labour changes course, we’ll hand the keys to Number Ten to Farage. We lost one vote to that con-artist a decade ago. Look at the damage Brexit did. We can’t lose the country to him at the next election. That’s why I left the Government to argue for a new direction.
We’re finally having a proper debate in the Labour Party about what and who we stand for. Politics should be a battle of ideas. Our country faces big challenges in need of big answers.
The test for each generation is to pass something better to the next, but kids today are facing a worse future. The technology revolution will change all our lives, but will it benefit everyone or just a few billionaires in San Francisco? How does Britain stay in control of its destiny, in a world dominated by Trump’s America and Xi’s China?
Ahead of the coming leadership contest, I’m setting out my stall: The populist backlash is fuelled by inequality. People play by the rules but see others flouting them. They work hard but don’t get the rewards. A nurse pays more tax for slogging their guts out than their landlord pays on selling their property. We should be taxing wealth more and work less. I’d bring in a wealth tax that works, and use some of the revenue to bring back Sure Start, so every child has the best start in life.
I was desperate to escape the council flat I grew up in. But poor kids today live in temporary accommodation, dreaming of a council home. I’ll get Britain building more council housing. I’m pro-devolution, but if councils are refusing to build homes, I’ll take away their power to decide. I’m pro-environment, but the species I’m most worried about protecting is kids in damp, mouldy housing. Children need need homes not hostels.
Where there are big opportunities in the tech revolution, we’ve got to seize them. That’s what I did as Health Secretary, modernising our NHS. But we can’t let the likes of Elon Musk decide our future. I’d ban social media for under 16s and give our kids their childhood back.
Britain used to punch above its weight. Each generation used to leave something better to the next. We used to have the ambition that no child should be left behind. We still can. Let the battle of ideas commence.
‘We have a responsibility to unite progressives’
This week, I’ve been visiting places where Labour lost support. I met councillors who lost to Reform and to the Greens. I listened to farmers who don’t think we understand rural England.
Seeing good Labour people lose through no fault of their own was heartbreaking. I was also shocked by what I heard about the abuse they faced.
A Labour supporter had their window smashed because they had a poster up. Councillors were physically threatened and subjected to verbal abuse.
We can’t have this. Whether it was Farage being attacked with a milkshake or Labour activists being threatened with assault, we need our politics to be better than this.
There’s 1,000 days until the next election. We have a responsibility to change our country, unite progressives, and defeat Reform. We still can.
‘Government must not backtrack on social care’
One of the defining challenges of our age is social care. The system robs people of their dignity, independence, and homes.
I’m extremely proud of the changes we made. Fair pay agreements for care workers. Money in the pockets of family carers. More ramps, rails, and chair-lifts in disabled people’s homes.
My ambition was to build a National Care Service. I urge the government not to backtrack on that progress.
‘Vote Burnham to send Farage packing’
I was up in Makerfield last weekend campaigning with Young Labour activists.
Our whole party knows how important this by-election is. We’ve got to stop Reform and their dodgy candidate.
The response on the doorstep really positive. If you’ve got a vote, use it to send Andy Burnham to Parliament and to send Farage packing.