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Leading the Way Forward for Labour

18th May 2015

Leading the Way Forward for Labour

Letter to Guardian 16.05.15

Having arrived in Westminster as newly elected Labour MPs, and after speaking to tens of thousands of voters during our election campaigns, we know how important it is for the future of our party to move forward with an agenda that best serves the everyday needs of people, families and communities, and that is prepared to challenge the notion of austerity and invest in public services. Labour must now reach out to the 5 million voters lost since 1997, and those who moved away from Labour in Scotland, renewing their hope that politics does matter and Labour is on their side.

We need a new leader who looks forward and will challenge an agenda of cuts, take on big business and will set out an alternative to austerity – not one which will draw back to the New Labour creed of the past. Labour needs a leader who is in tune with the collective aspiration of ordinary people and communities across Britain, meeting the need for secure employment paying decent wages, homes that people can call their own, strong public services back in public hands, and the guarantee of a real apprenticeship or university course with a job at the end of it.

From restoring Sure Start to providing dignity and a good standard of living in retirement, these are the aspirations key to real Labour values today and will re-engage people across our country in the years to come. We look forward to engaging in the debate in the weeks ahead to secure our party as being best able to meet the challenges faced by ordinary people at this time.

Richard Burgon MP (Leeds East), Louise Haigh MP (Sheffield Heeley), Harry Harpham MP (Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough), Imran Hussain MP(Bradford East), Clive Lewis MP (Norwich South), Rebecca Long Bailey MP(Salford and Eccles), Rachael Maskell MP (York Central), Kate Osamor MP(Edmonton), Cat Smith MP (Lancaster and Fleetwood), Jo Stevens MP (Cardiff Central)