We need a new settlement for communities across the country

For communities up and down the country the last few years have been extremely tough. The current Tory – Lib Dem coalition are seemingly intent on finishing off the job Margaret Thatcher started during her disastrous premiership laying waste to communities throughout the UK.

There is absolutely no doubt that ordinary men and women have been targeted by this government. Along with their friends in the media the coalition have systematically undermined the key principles of the welfare state, demonised those most in need of the safety net and sold off services regardless of the consequences.

The much heralded recovery, based solely on employment figures is nothing but a con in communities like the one I represent. We can no longer base the prosperity of the nation solely on the numbers of people in work as the rise of the low paid economy now shows.

In my constituency, Child Poverty haunts families and brings shame on us all. Almost a quarter of all Children live in poverty with some areas seeing in excess of 40%. Most worryingly is that of those living in poverty 60% are in a family with someone who works. Financial pressures continue to stalk low and middle income families with the cost of living crisis embedded in communities.

This bleak picture is being pounced upon by some to peddle their politics of hate and fear. The rise of UKIP, a party who claim to keep alive the flame of Thatcherism, can be directly attributed to the disastrous policies her government introduced and that have been continued.

It is no good fighting fear with fear. Not being as bad as the others is not good enough. As Martin Luther King said “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” We need to offer hope to those struggling in the modern world.

From the ashes of the Second World War, with overwhelming public support, the Labour Party working together with ordinary men and women, created the Welfare State. Combat in the battlefields of Europe was over but a war on the evils of want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness remained. The eradication of these evils remains a work in progress.

We must once and for all bury the legacy of the recent past started under Margaret Thatcher. It is time that compassion, human decency and cooperation were put back to the forefront of our political system and that the Welfare State is renewed from the ashes of Thatcherism.

Debates like those that were thrown up in Scotland have shown that there is a huge disconnect between people and politicians. Arguments like that over the Barnett formula and whether England or Scotland gets more mean absolutely nothing when people do not see the benefits in their own lives. If people are living in abject poverty, regardless of funding formulas, something is entirely wrong.

Making sure everyone has access to a good job, quality health care, a secure and affordable home, a good education and a secure retirement are goals that would find support amongst the vast majority of the population. To achieve this is not some pie in the sky pipe dream. We live in the sixth largest economy in the world yet we have people from children to pensioners living in poverty.

The measure of a developed nation should be how the least fortunate are treat and I’m afraid on that history will judge us poorly. It is time that everyone shared in the economic success of the nation, it is not enough to be thrown the crumbs from a few at the top table and for people to be expected to be grateful.

As a country we need to work together to ensure that no area is ever left behind. Communities like the one I represent have a proud history of standing shoulder to shoulder for the common good. We owe it to those who went before, we owe it to ourselves and we owe it to our future generations to make sure this tradition lives on.

Join Ian Lavery and 60 other speakers at Class Conference on 1 November