“Only bold state intervention will see us through this crisis” – Ian Byrne’s maiden speech

It is an immense privilege to stand in the House today as the member of parliament for Liverpool, West Derby — the community that made me. With the coronavirus pandemic sweeping across the globe, this is a worrying time for the people we represent across this House. In light of that, the speech I deliver today will be very different from the one I wrote three weeks ago.

I would like to start by thanking my predecessor, Stephen Twigg, for the service he gave to West Derby constituency during his time in this House. I have heard from many people first hand what a good constituency MP and excellent parliamentarian Stephen was, and I am sure the House will join me in wishing him every success in his post-parliamentary career.​

The constituency of Liverpool, West Derby has many notable sons and daughters, including Bessie Braddock, the formidable former Labour MP, who lived with her husband Jack on Zig Zag Road in West Derby in 1942. West Derby is home to The Casbah Coffee Club — a legendary venue that played a huge role in the formation of the world’s greatest band: the Beatles.

Continuing the theme of world class, as an avid Liverpool fan it would be remiss of me not to mention our legendary former manager and great socialist, Bill Shankly, who lived in West Derby opposite Liverpool’s Melwood training ground. The constituency is also the birthplace of currently the best right-back in the world: Trent Alexander-Arnold. We have, in our current manager Jurgen Klopp, a man who is showing more leadership and wisdom off the pitch during this crisis than some of our world leaders.

I grew up in West Derby in the ’70s, against a backdrop of de-industrialisation and Thatcher’s government. Labelled ‘the hardest nut to crack’ by the Tories and earmarked for ‘managed decline’, the Liverpool I grew up in knew the despair of joblessness and economic deprivation. It was a city on the brink — but one that dared to fight back. I am proud that, 35 years on, Liverpool’s red wall stands firm. People in our city know that Liverpool City Council has £436m less to spend per year now than it did in 2010 — that same council will be straining every sinew to keep its people’s heads above water, despite being hollowed out by cuts.

On April 15th 1989, at 17 years of age, I was in Leppings Lane at the FA cup semi-final at Hillsborough. What happened that day, the aftermath and the smears against the families, survivors and the people of our city have profoundly shaped my life and my politics. The 30-year fight for truth and justice serves as a reminder that when we pull together the power of the people is greater than the people in power. However, it should not have taken that fight to prove it. Our justice system still denies bereaved families a level playing field when they are taking on public authorities or the state. That is why we need the Hillsborough law to ensure that working-class people have access to the same tools that are available to the powerful.

We now know that austerity was a political choice. I know the human cost all too well. In 2015, I teamed up with my Evertonian mates Dave and Robbie to co-found Fans Supporting Foodbanks, a grassroots initiative that puts football fans at the heart of the fight against food poverty. What started with three fans standing with a wheelie bin collecting tins of food outside the pub on match days now supplies 30% of all donations to North Liverpool Foodbank and has become an operation that stretches from Glasgow to London to Dublin.

We have united people of different backgrounds, different faiths and even people who wear different colours at the game, because our problems were not caused by other working-class people, but by a rigged system propped up by the born-to-rule elite who only represent the interests of the 1% — a system that means 1.6 million people need help from a food bank in one of the richest countries on earth. I am here in parliament to challenge that system.

In West Derby, we are also immensely proud of our two world-class hospitals, Broadgreen Hospital and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. I am proud to have organised workers in both hospitals for better pay and ​conditions as a trade union organiser for Unite the union. Now, as we face the coronavirus pandemic, I would like to express my unreserved gratitude to all our NHS staff for their dedication and courage. This pandemic clearly demonstrates how free health and social care is not a cost, but a precious and crucial asset when fate comes calling. The government must rise to this challenge. We must act now to support those who need us. In the immediate term, we need a rescue package for working-class people and communities with the same scale and urgency as the bail-out of the banks.

The first duty of any government is to protect its people, so the government must adopt clear commitments to prioritise human need — that no one will lose their home, no one will be plunged into hardship, and no one will go hungry as a result of a virus that is not their fault. I say to the government that now is not the time for half-measures. They should guarantee decent sick pay for all workers, suspend rent, mortgage and utility bills, make private healthcare facilities available for our NHS rent-free, ban evictions, end sanctions, scrap the five-week wait for universal credit and consider rolling out a basic income.

We cannot leave it to the whims and warped priorities of the market. Only bold state intervention will see us through this crisis, if only we had the political will to act. Our demand must be an end to the broken political and economic model of the last 40 years. The reversal of the Thatcher doctrine will never be more critical than in the coming weeks, because there is such thing as society, and we must shape that society to place the health and needs of its people above the interests of profit. That is what socialism is. That is what humanity is, and without that we are nothing.