They say that a week is a long time in politics, but this past week has been especially long.  Since I wrote this column last week so much has happened in the political world, and all of it will affect lives here in North Staffordshire. 

Last week, the Labour Government celebrated ten years in power.  This is an opportunity to reflect upon all that has been achieved in the last ten years.  Britain really is a different place – with large amounts of extra money going into public services.  Spending on education per pupil has doubled from £2,500 per year to £5,000 per year.  And spending on the health service has tripled – and we can see the 85,000 extra nurses that this has paid for.  Two million new jobs, the introduction of the minimum wage and schemes like tax credits have helped more people earn a decent wage. 

But I don’t think that anyone pretends that everything is perfect – there is still a long way to go.  New problems have come up – like fast globalisation, a changing situation internationally and biggest of all – the threat of climate change, we need to keep on looking at how to get the right policies at the right time.

This week The Prime Minister announces his plans to stand down, and I hope that this can be a positive step which can help our country face up to the fast and ever changing challenges.  The resignation is the start of a seven week process towards electing a new Labour leader, who will be our country’s Prime Minister until the next election.  The rules governing the election of the Labour leader are complicated, and involve a number of steps to make sure that any candidate has good support in Parliament and amongst trade union members and Labour Party members. In the next couple weeks the process of choosing a new leader will be well under way.

But through all this, I will be keeping my eyes on the ball with what his happening here in North Staffordshire.  The most important thing for me continues to be working with local partners to improve life here – including education and regeneration. There is no quick fix here and last week’s local elections will have a bearing on this. It is more important than ever that we all work together and take responsibility to promote North Staffordshire and win the improvements that are needed.

If you would like to know more about the elections, the Labour Party leadership, or what I am working on locally, then get in touch.