The difference Labour makes in your community

In the rough and tumble of Westminster politics, the equally important world of the council chamber can often end up being an afterthought. While the national press busies itself with events in SW1, votes in council chambers across the country can often have more of an immediate impact on residents’ lives than decisions made in Parliament and Whitehall.

Amid talk about ‘pavement politics’ to improve the lives of working people, our important county, borough, district and unitary councils are on the frontline in that fight. While the ire of the average voter may be directed at their local MP, it’s their local councillor calling the shots over the local library, the state of the roads, rubbish collection, cleaning graffiti and on social care.

These are huge responsibilities that fall on the shoulders of our Labour councillors, who do not get nearly enough credit for the work that they do. That stings more after we lost more than 1,000 of our colleagues who had been fighting for working people across the country last month in the local elections – with all their work ignored as the conversation moved immediately onto national political issues.

Today, we’re doing our bit to address that with our new weekly feature celebrating Labour’s wins in local government; from tackling crime and anti-social behaviour on our streets and building new council homes, to opening new libraries and cutting the costs of public transport. We talk a lot about the difference a Labour government makes – this is the difference Labour makes in your local town hall.

Our very own Ellie Ormsby has also shared some of her experience as a councillor in Westminster, as well as the process of standing for selection and election. Watch the first part of her video here.

So whether it’s the Labour council in Liverpool, the Labour team in Nottingham, the Labour administration in Brighton and Hove or any Labour councillor across the country, thank you so much for the work you do day in, day out. You are proving every day that politics is at its best when it delivers real change in people’s lives. The story of Labour in government is written not just in Parliament, but in town halls and communities across the nation.

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