I’d like to wish everybody a Happy New Year.
There’s been a great spirit during the Christmas period: of families coming together and communities supporting each other, helping out neighbours, helping the homeless, helping out victims of floods in so many parts of the country.
It’s that spirit of community and solidarity we need to bring into the heart of our politics and the way our country is run.
I was elected Leader of the Labour Party in September on a mandate for change.
During these last three months, we’ve challenged this Government – and defeated them: on Working Tax Credits, cuts to the police service, and running the prison service in Saudi Arabia.
We will have to challenge them even more next year – on their damaging cuts to public services, and their lack of investment in our economy and our people.
But we will also offer a real alternative: a politics that gives people a say in the decisions that affect them, and an economy based on long-term investment, instead of self-defeating austerity.
We want to build an economy fit for the 21st century.
2016 will be the start of a journey to elect a Labour government in 2020 that will do just that: a government that will deliver a fairer, more prosperous society that we can all enjoy – a society that works for all, not just the few.
