Now the local council elections are over for another year, it’s time for us to resume the Labour council’s ongoing work to bring real improvements to our area.

But it’s difficult to ignore the problems brought on us at a national level.  After 13 years of Tory government, seven million people are on NHS waiting lists, access to local GPs is harder and communities feel less safe with fewer neighbourhood police.

But it isn’t just our public services that are struggling. Times are tough. Working people are finding it harder to make ends meet with the biggest hit to living standards on record.

People are paying the price of the Tory mortgage penalty while energy bills and food prices have risen. At the same time, wages have stagnated and taxes for working people have gone up.

This was not inevitable. Working people have paid the price for Tory mistakes and Tory choices. This has to stop. It’s time for a change.

Labour has a long term plan to give Britain back its future. Not short-term sticking plaster solutions, but a mission-driven government that step by step will improve the lives of working people.

But we understand that times are tough and people need help now to get through this cost of living crisis. That’s why a Labour government would:

o Keep energy bills low for good by insulating 19 million homes.

o Stop the Tory decision to hand the richest 1% of pension savers £1 billion in the midst of a cost of living crisis, and instead introduce specific measures to keep doctors in work.

o Close the non-dom tax loophole, so people who live and work here pay their tax here, and use that money to fund the biggest expansion of the NHS workforce in history and Breakfast Clubs at every primary school.

These are all achievable promises that would improve the lives of everyone in this country – and that’s the difference a Labour government would make to hardworking families.

Cllr Michael Jones

Leader, Crawley Borough Council