Imran Hussain MP on what Labour Government must deliver

This week's comes from Imran Hussain, Labour MP for Bradford East

As the new Labour Government takes office after the 14 years of chaos and disaster that we were forced to endure under the Tories, there is a great sense of relief across much of the country, with many of the people I spoke to on the campaign trail telling me how truly desperate they were for a change from the Tories.

But with the deep scars left by cruel and ideologically driven policies of this last Tory Government, with low wages, a widening health inequality gap, and rising poverty all now endemic across Bradford, families in my constituency cannot afford to look on at this new Government of change all starry-eyed.

Instead, that message of change must mean something beyond a slogan.

What families in Bradford therefore need to see is swift action from this new Government to tackle the huge challenges that they face, and they need to see it now with bold policies in the King’s Speech this week because all the optimism in the world about the prospect of change can never compare to actually delivering on it to improve people’s lives for the better.

When we’re less than two weeks on from the general election and the first King’s Speech has not even been delivered yet, some would tell me that pressing for swift action whilst new Ministers are barely settled in their departments is too hasty, and would accuse me of being too demanding too quickly.

But as an MP representing one of the country’s most deprived, disadvantaged, and unequal constituencies, the reason for my urgency is the sheer scale of the challenge that families in Bradford face today.

Indeed, around half of children in Bradford East are growing up in poverty in households where even parents who are in work are unable to make ends meet, and where they are forced to make choices between heating or eating.

Average wages in Bradford are over £6,000 a year less than the national average, with a greater proportion of people on insecure contracts that leave them in precarious employment.

A view of Bradford (Image: Gary Allan/T&A Camera Club)

Children lag behind their peers across both Yorkshire and England, with the proportion achieving good GCSEs in English and Maths up to 10 percentage points lower. And there is a greater likelihood of suffering from multiple, preventable health conditions if you live in Bradford compared to more affluent parts of the country.

Whilst the Labour Government’s Manifesto is packed with pledges to address poverty, deprivation, and economic disadvantages in places like Bradford, as well as measures to tackle the rising cost of living that families face, with plans to ensure fair taxation, boost wages, cut energy bills, reduce food costs, provide better security in work, and deliver more healthcare locally in communities, the extent to which the Tories have devastated our communities over the last 14 years means we must now go further and faster.

That means starting by scrapping the two-child limit that helps trap more than 1.5 million children across the country in poverty and impacts almost 2,500 households in Bradford East according to the Child Poverty Action Group.

Imran Hussain has called for the two-child limit to be scrapped

The limit affects every aspect of a child’s life, from leaving them without access to basic needs such as food, clothing, and heating, to harming their education, mental health, and development, and unless the Government announce plans to abolish it in the King’s Speech this week, it will only continue to drag more and more children into poverty.

It also means securing our fair share of funding and investment in Bradford, and ensuring that this funding is announced quickly, without delay, to give organisations the certainty that they need and to prevent Bradford from being left behind.

That includes investment for better healthcare services, with a commitment to deliver on the promise of creating more Neighbourhood Health Centres to deliver more services locally under one roof where they can best address health inequalities, as well as investment that reverses the colossal cuts to local government, and investment that supports the local emerging industries of the modern economy to create good, well-paid, and sustainable jobs.

This is what the new Labour Government must deliver during this week’s King’s Speech, and this is what I’ll continue to demand that they deliver.

I made it clear during the general election campaign that I would continue to fight for and defend people in Bradford East, and that I would do so regardless of who’s occupying No.10 because as I’ve said time and time again, it’s the people of Bradford East that sent me to Westminster to represent them, not Westminster that sent me to Bradford.