Yvette Cooper MP: It’s inspiring to see the changes people are fighting for every day.

Yvette Cooper MP: It’s hard to imagine anything more chaotic than the 12 months we’ve just been through. A year ago revelations about Conservative government lockdown parties were just emerging. Since then 147 government ministers including 32 cabinet ministers, have resigned or been sacked. We’ve had five education secretaries, four chancellors, three prime ministers, two Tory leadership coups – one shambolic year.

The trouble is that local families are paying the price for this chaos. From fuel to food, prices are soaring – inflation has jumped from 5.5 per cent at the start of the year to over 11 per cent now – hitting living standards badly. This is the legacy of over a decade of failed economic growth. And it’s putting so much pressure on household budgets and pushing many who would never normally need it, to ask for help from foodbanks and local charities.

But it is the state of our precious NHS that is on many of our minds this Christmas. The heroes who got us through Covid and care for us every day of the year have never been so overstretched and understaffed. Waiting lists are at record highs and it’s becoming harder and harder locally to get a GP or dentist appointment.

Over recent weeks I’ve spoken to local nurses, GPs and ambulance workers about staffing pressures. The people who got us through the pandemic can’t go off to the Jungle or the lucrative after dinner speaking circuit like the former health secretary or prime minister have done. They need a proper plan from government to provide the support and staffing our NHS needs.

That’s why Labour has promised to abolish the non-doms tax break that only helps the very richest people in the country and use the money to train more doctors and nurses and give our NHS the support and staff that all of us as patients badly need.

But while many things this year have been tough, we’ve also seen the very best of our towns and our country. Across our communities, people have been pulling together to help each other once more – from presents and pyjama collections for children to lunch clubs and cosy cafes springing up everywhere.

Across the country people also came together in the autumn to mourn our beloved Queen Elizabeth and commemorate her remarkable public service. And earlier in the year people across the country and here the Five Towns raised funds to help communities in Ukraine and welcomed families fleeing Putin’s terrible war.

My personal inspiration this year has come from Castleford’s Rob Burrow and it was brilliant to take part in his Strictly fundraiser at Headingley in March - dancing in heels and sequins to raise money for the new national centre for Motor Neurone Disease, where work is now underway in Leeds. Thank you Rob, your family and to super-fundraisers like Kevin Sinfield – it’s inspiring to see the changes people are fighting for every day.

Right across the country, I believe people want to come together to work for change and a better 2023. Happy New Year and all the best for 2023 to all the readers of the Express.