General Election

Michael Wheeler Excerpts

Monday 6th January 2025 Westminster Hall

[Michael Wheeler (Worsley and Eccles) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure, as always, to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I also extend my thanks to the Chair of the Petitions Committee, the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone).

On 4 July 2024, I was proud to be elected as the Labour MP for Worsley and Eccles. I stood on a manifesto of change and, six months ago, Labour was given a clear mandate from the British people to get on with the job of rebuilding the country, fixing our public services and making work pay. There should be no doubts about the size of this task. Fourteen years of Conservative Government have left public services in a dire condition and people feeling the pinch in their pockets. On top of that, a flurry of unfunded promises left the country with a £22 billion black hole that it is up to the Labour Government to fill. Fourteen years and £22 billion—a challenge of this scale is clearly not going to be fixed overnight.

This Government have not sat idly by for the last six months. We have started the hard work of delivering change, our manifesto promises and the better future that the people of this country deserve. Labour has committed an extra £25.6 billion of NHS funding over two years to meet our commitment to fix our broken NHS. That funding will be vital in cutting waiting times, and I was pleased to see the Prime Minister set out measures earlier today to deliver 40,000 extra appointments every single week.

Work has already begun on Labour’s commitment to raise school standards for every single child. Since the election, it has been a genuine pleasure of mine to visit so many excellent schools in my constituency of Worsley and Eccles. I am acutely aware of the vital importance that my constituents place on their children receiving a high quality education. I therefore welcomed the Government’s decision to increase the core schools budget by £2.3 billion next year to support the recruitment of 6,500 teachers and genuinely invest in our state schools.

As someone who regularly suffers on the west coast main line and has never understood why the failed model of privatisation was allowed to continue for so long to the detriment of customers, I was also proud to vote for legislation to fix our broken transport system, laying the groundwork for a publicly owned rail system that works for the public once again.

The Labour Government are only getting started—we are only six months in. I am proud to see the important progress being made on delivering many of the other manifesto commitments that I was elected on. Whereas the previous Government oversaw an economy blighted by insecure work, low pay and poor productivity, the Employment Rights Bill introduced by this Government will deliver the biggest upgrade in workers’ rights in a generation, meeting our commitment to make work pay. Measures in the Bill—such as the end of exploitative zero-hours contracts, the end of fire and rehire, and the right to statutory sick pay from day one of an illness—will end the poor pay, poor working conditions and poor job security that have held too many people back for too long.

In addition, a 6.7% increase in the national living wage will take effect from this April, with this Government changing the Low Pay Commission’s remit so that it will now have to take into account the cost of living when setting new rates.

The Government are also taking action to provide the secure homes that people need. I welcome the Government’s commitment to accelerate house building in order to deliver 1.5 million good quality homes and infrastructure. For far too long private renters have suffered from expensive, precarious and poor quality accommodation. I was proud to serve on the Renters’ Rights Bill Committee, working on a Bill that will level the playing field between tenants and landlords, banning the scandal of no-fault evictions and delivering a range of new protections.

Finally, I note the introduction of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which will help break the link between young people’s backgrounds and their future success, providing opportunity for all while delivering on our specific manifesto commitment of free breakfast clubs in every primary school.

Less than 200 days ago, the British people endorsed Labour’s manifesto and delivered a resounding call for change. This Government are working hard to meet the commitments made at that election. I welcome the progress that has already been made on delivering the promises, and I know that there is more to come. I look forward to facing my constituents at the next general election—when it comes—and standing on my record and the record of this Labour Government. Until then, I will keep working every day for the people of Worsley and Eccles.