Debate on the Address

Dan Carden Excerpts

Wednesday 17th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Dan Carden (Liverpool Walton) (Lab)]

It is pleasure to follow such an accomplished maiden speech by my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton North (Chris McDonald) and to have listened to a little bit about the Durham coalfields, which I know well—I am happy to say that I have been to Peterlee numerous times. I think we in this place can all learn from those wonderful words:

“The past we inherit, the future we build.”

I extend my words of congratulations to my hon. Friend to the 300-plus new Members who have been elected to this Chamber. I know it is daunting turning up to this place, but they should spare a thought for some of us who are also overwhelmed by the sheer number of new colleagues we have. It is wonderful to see so many new faces and I look forward to having those individual conversations and getting to know many people.

Finally, a word on good friends from all sides of the House who I have had the privilege to work with over recent years and who have sadly lost their seats. They will no longer be in this place but I will maintain those friendships beyond this Chamber.

I welcome the first Labour King’s Speech in a long time. In particular, on behalf of my constituents, and having represented the Anfield stadium for the past seven years, I welcome the Hillsborough law to support bereaved families who fight for truth and justice. It will mean so much to so many people. I also welcome the new deal for workers, the repealing of the Tories’ anti-strike legislation and the return to some collective bargaining, which will be a good thing in the social care sector and which I hope to see go further in future years.

I welcome bringing our railways back into public ownership; fixing our national health service; new protections for renters, including an end to no-fault evictions; and the introduction of Awaab’s law. I welcome investment in clean energy to create the good, unionised jobs of the future; bringing back community policing; and devolving greater power to communities, cities and regions. After 14 years out of power, I am determined to contribute to the success of a Labour Government in their mission to rebuild and renew our country. I have said for long enough that the only thing that will change the lives of the people I represent is a Labour Government.

I am delighted to have been returned to this place by the people of Liverpool Walton to speak on their behalf. I am grateful for the trust they have placed in me. Our community is one of the most deprived in the UK. Unemployment and child poverty are twice the national average. Too much of our housing is poor-quality private rented accommodation. The situation is scandalous and worsening, and rents are still rising faster than wages. Those rents must be controlled. Tenants must have greater protections. Streets are blighted by the conversion of homes into multi-occupancy housing and short-term rentals, and landlords can hike up rents on a whim and cast entire families on to the street. Labour must make security of housing a reality for all through council housing, social rents and home ownership. Across Liverpool Walton, our once vibrant high streets have too often turned into rows of boarded-up store fronts. Some of this can be put down to 14 years of Tory failure, but it feels like we have had decades of decline in local communities.

The reality is that the last 40 years have bequeathed greater inequality and despair. There are economic problems that this Labour Government can and will put right, but the challenges will stretch well beyond that. The last 40 years have brought social disintegration and, to put it simply, unhappiness. People are living much more isolated, lonely lives, with rising mental ill health and greater drug and alcohol addiction blighting our communities. Social media is changing how we behave and interact. The bad behaviour, selfishness and criminality of some—which too often goes unchecked—makes the lives of others miserable.

Those are the fundamental issues: a loss of meaning, a loss of relationships, and a loss of love. Those are the social ills that cannot be fully expressed in the cold language of economic indicators. They are the products of a rotten social and economic model, which has eroded our sense of social solidarity and flung us into an epidemic of loneliness, anger and despair, and it’s real.

We have ended up with an economic and political approach that focuses almost entirely on the individual, while the family, community, church and trade union are diminished. Society is disintegrated, leaving only the state and the market. I believe that what is valuable is what we do together in society when people come together. That is the treasure that we need to value and nurture. We must accept that the Government—the state—cannot and should not deliver the solution to all of our problems, but it can shape how we live.

Labour in government should limit the worst excesses of market greed. By that, I mean the extortion of the working-class communities I represent by corporations and landlords. People know when they are being ripped off. Labour in government should limit the most damaging elements of the 24-hour global consumer capitalist world that we find ourselves thrust into, with little choice, to give us back what is really important in our lives, whether that is time and space for our families, our friends and social pursuits, dignity at work and dignity at home, or space for local trades, producers and shops to flourish.

Labour in government must also bring about an end to the unaccountable state. With the Hillsborough cover-up and the Windrush, Post Office and contaminated blood scandals, the story is always the same. Liverpool has a rich history of trade unionism and working-class struggle, a fierce sense of independence and a unique character. We know that our community is full of potential waiting to be unlocked. I hope that this Labour Government will do just that.