Everyone can see the government’s confidence in the economy has gone cold. We were told by now the deficit would be repaid and we would be sharing in the benefits from this. While the government blamed Labour when the US sub-prime housing market crashed in 2008, they have no trouble blaming the global downturn for their cuts and the weak state of the economy -; construction in recession, manufacturing stagnating and exports floundering. They have been in power for 6 years and have not made the right interventions and investments to get our economy working, not even met their own targets, having to revise them down again in the Budget.

The productivity gap, the lack of an industrial strategy, the cuts to local people all result in slow growth. Had the government invested in strengthening our economy then we would be in a far stronger place than we are now.  Sadly there is no power in the Northern Powerhouse; we have a Northern Powercut -; Yorkshire Energy Partnership the latest to hit the buffers.

Labour have drawn on the top economists to set up its Economic Advisory Council. The UK is in a dangerous economic position, and Labour has set out clear fiscal credibility rules to ensure we cut the deficit and the national debt while making strategic investment into housing, technologies and skills. Labour’s detailed plan will address tax avoidance and evasion, but from the profits drawn from growth, will stand up for disabled people, women (who have experienced 81% of the current cuts) and we’ll ensure the large corporates pay their fair share of tax. In the interim I have been speaking up for small businesses in Westminster.

Labour’s new economic strategy will reverse the failures of this government, will ensure fairness and will give everyone hope for the future. In York, we will build housing for local people and ensure the investment is there to grow the economy and create high quality jobs. We will be fair to small businesses and those in the neglected public sector.

While the Government has not invested in our economy, Labour has set up an evidence-based, audited framework to hardwire fairness back into our nation’s finances. Clement Attlee understood the importance of investment, and delivered the best deal for our country of any government in history. We are drawing on his wisdom to safeguard your future.

One example of why this government is failing is the scale of cuts to local government.  They have made significant cuts to the schools building programme and I have been talking with the Council and meeting schools in the constituency to see the urgent building work which is needed. The Government now want to academise all schools, without giving parents a say.

The Minister has agreed to meet me to discuss the challenges York schools face. Just one out of ten schools received money in the last funding round. Some were top of the list for repair and rebuild 6 years ago. It costs to keep schools running in a state of disrepair and it is a waste of resources, York children deserve better.  I will campaign for better schools.  I will also continue to make sure any new funding formula for York means we no longer receive less per pupil than the average child in the UK.