Jade Botterill MP: Delivering economic growth our community can really feel

Shops and businesses have closed. Too many face sleepless nights for fear of redundancy or monthly bills, as your paycheque just doesn't stretch as far as it used to. Local schools are literally crumbling, and Pinderfields is under increasing pressure. Young people are forced to move away in search of jobs and opportunity. Ask anyone around here, our community knows the impact of weak economic growth better than anyone else.

But too often, when you hear about growing the economy, it’s all about lines on a graph, not real people and real communities. I think that’s why, when politicians talk about the importance of economic growth – it feels abstract from our daily lives.

The previous 14 years of Conservative government brought with it 14 years of cycling between stagnation and decline. It also brought false promises of levelling up and investment in communities like ours that never materialised.

To me, what is important is actually delivering change. It’s about the money in people’s pockets and the quality of their public services. The previous government wasted time, money and hope.

I’m glad to be part of a government that is committed to real change, who have been clear in how the economy should grow, and who should benefit from it.

It is providing finance through the National Wealth Fund – based in West Yorkshire – which will establish strategic partnership to provide deeper, more focused support for our region.

It is investing in our region’s infrastructure by improving connectivity across the North.

It’s securing green energy to bring down bills and power businesses, creating and delivering future offshore wind technologies, right now in the Humber.

It is investing in our local high streets – reforming business rates to make our local shops able to compete with big tech firms.

It is fundamentally rewiring the economy, with wealth created and wealth shared in every part of Britain, including West Yorkshire.

Not all of these measures will grow the economy overnight. As any business owner will tell you, investments can take time to bear fruit, but unlike the previous government, Labour is committed to growing our economy for the long term.

By stabilising the economy, supporting public services, attracting investment and reforming regulations that are suffocating businesses, we can get the economy growing – on lines on a graph and in our everyday lives.

Finally, I wanted to express my sorrow for the death of three teenagers following a traffic collision in West Bretton. My thoughts are also with the individual who remains in a critical condition. It's awful to see their names as they are released. Our whole community joins their friends and family in their unimaginable grief.

In the short time I have been an MP, we have seen too many lives lost on our roads. We must make our rural roads safer for both motorists and pedestrians.