I HAVE just got back from Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.

It was busy and bustling which reflects the fact that we are now in government rather than opposition so many more people want to come and talk to us. It’s been a really busy first two and a half months and I thought it was worth highlighting 10 of the very positive things this brand new Labour government has already done:

1. On water and the sewage scandal – we have a new Water Bill in Parliament with strong powers for the regulator to clean up the water sector by stopping water bosses’ bonuses, impactful fines, a flood taskforce, a root and branch review of the sector and a newly announced £88-billion of ringfenced investment in infrastructure over the next five years.

2. We’ve set up a Wealth Fund and public energy company, GB Energy – so we can invest in the renewable energy of the future. That investment should bring good jobs and cheaper bills to places like Cornwall as we will be generating our own windpower and making batteries from our own lithium and no longer relying on other countries for those things.

3. On the economy, we’ve brought in rules that mean that no government in future can take the kind of damaging decisions that Liz Truss did. We’ve also started the job of clawing back the money wasted on dodgy Covid contracts by the Conservatives.

4. We’ve ended the strikes. It was so important to get doctors back to work and the trains running again.

5. We’ve started to bring in free breakfast clubs for children and the Education Secretary announced hundreds of new nurseries in our primary schools. That will hopefully help parents in places like Falmouth where there currently are no school nurseries.

6. We’ve set up a poverty task force. Too many people are relying on foodbanks in this country. We need to stop that. Everyone should have enough to live on.

7. We’ve introduced a renters’ rights bill. Nearly 900 households are homeless in Cornwall. Many of them because they have been evicted from their rented homes with only a two month notice period. That is not fair and we will change that along with making sure all rented homes comply with a decent homes standard.

8. We’re going to invest in the homes we need. In Cornwall, that means the right homes in the right places. We need more truly affordable housing.

9. On foreign policy, this government is showing strong and solid support to Ukraine. In the very difficult and escalating position in the Middle East, the government will be a voice for de-escalation and restraint and for international law to be upheld. We will carry on calling for a ceasefire, release of the hostages, protection of civilians and a renewed peace process based on a two-state solution.

10. And one of the first things we did was to pass a bill to enable us to renationalise the railways!

So much already done, but still so much to do as we go into the autumn session of Parliament to fix the foundations of the NHS, our public services and grow the economy again.

Jayne Kirkham

Labour MP for Truro and Falmouth