It was great to attend Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool last week and meet with other MPs, activists, and trade unions to reflect on our government’s achievements so far, and how its plan to renew Britain for all will support people in Luton South and South Bedfordshire.
The Prime Minister is clear that we now face a choice between decency or division, renewal or decline. For fourteen years our country dealt with underinvestment in infrastructure, public services and British industry, leaving our economy stagnating and not built for working people. The Labour government have set out a bold vision to change that, building a renewed Britain for all.
At conference the government set out its roadmap to renewal, a key pillar of this being efforts to break down barriers to opportunity to ensure the very best for our young people, regardless of their background. The government’s new Youth Guarantee will tackle long-term youth unemployment, giving all our young people the chance to earn or learn. Its new target for two thirds of young people to enter university, further education, or a gold standard apprenticeship will widen choice and give skills education the respect it deserves.
These plans will be delivered with help from new Youth Hubs in communities across the country that will provide personalised wraparound employment, skills, and wellbeing support, and the introduction of targeted, means-tested maintenance grants to open up access to university to those from more disadvantaged backgrounds.
The government also set out plans to restore the dream of homeownership by sweeping aside blockers to get new homes and first-class local infrastructure built. This goes alongside plans to restore pride in our towns and local communities through the new Pride in Place scheme, backed by record investment and new community powers. I’m delighted to have secured £1.5 million funding for Luton from the government as part of this scheme, allowing our community to invest in the new facilities and projects that matter locally.
Other key announcements include the next wave of rail nationalisations; a library for every primary school in England without one; a new NHS Online hospital to transform the way we deliver healthcare; an expansion of Great British Energy’s scheme to cut the cost of energy bills for schools and hospitals; a new Youth Experience Scheme to open travel, work and study opportunities for young people across the EU; and a new team to hunt down public money lost to covid fraud.
Labour has set out an ambitious programme of renewal, investing in Britain’s future by stabilising our economy, revitalising our public services, investing in the infrastructure we need, and creating the opportunities we all want to see for the next generation.
See more of what I got up to at conference below!
