This week in Parliament, I raised the fact that since 2010 when this Government came to power, they have cut £1.2 billion from Barnsley Council. That has meant a loss of 40% of the Local Authority budget and half its workforce.

The Government have made much of their Levelling Up agenda, but in reality, this is little more than a slogan, having given back just £10 million to our borough. Of course, we welcome any funding, but it’s nowhere near enough to make up for a lost decade of cuts.

After 13 years of Conservative Government, people do not feel any better off. If anything, as wages have fallen and inflation rises, they feel worse.

It has only been a few weeks since the Chancellor delivered his Budget to Parliament, but he included no measures to resolve the issues people in Barnsley are raising about the unmanageable cost of living.

This was meant to be a ‘growth budget’, but it was nothing of the sort.

Successive Conservative Governments have left public services on their knees due to underinvestment and neglect.

Teachers, nurses, ambulance drivers and so many more cannot give any more than they already have. They are at breaking point because there are simply not enough resources available to help the people who need it.

Yet, there were no measures set out to genuinely help the NHS, and still no commitment to a proper windfall tax on the huge excess profits made by energy companies, despite Labour calling for one since January 2022.

Since the Budget was delivered, inflation has risen again to 10.4%, and people are still predicted to face the largest decline in living standards since records began in the 1950s.

However, the Government did show that their priority is with the richest in society again by giving a tax break to the richest one per cent of people through their pension reform.

The Chancellor claimed his pensions policies had the aim of encouraging NHS doctors to work for longer before retiring, but analysis has found that almost as many bankers as NHS doctors will benefit from the reforms.

A Labour Government would reverse this policy immediately.

Of course, it is welcome that the Government have finally listened to Labour and mirrored our policies on some issues, such as childcare.

But, after successive Conservative Governments have stretched public services further and further, families in Barnsley are already worried about how the Chancellor’s measures will work.

I again called on the Government to take action on former mineworkers’ pensions, with support from other MPs from former coalfield areas. Despite clear cross-party recommendations, the Government still haven’t taken any action towards ending the 50/50 surplus sharing arrangement, or returning the £1.2 billion reserve fund to former miners.

Even though our call was ignored, I will not give up, and will continue to urge Government to deliver the justice that former mineworkers deserve.

Barnsley deserves better than this. We need a Labour Government now.