Council boss and Labour leader's joint pledge to York : 'We get it!'

At the ballot box last week we saw a hunger for change.

This was heard loud and clear from the people of York.

The Labour Party has changed, and our priorities are your priorities.

In York, we ran a campaign that tackled the issues that mattered to local people: reversing the Blue Badge ban, building genuinely affordable housing on council land, recruiting a team of Neighbourhood Caretakers to look after our communities, insulating thousands of York homes to cut bills and carbon, and bringing well-paid jobs to York.

Right across the country, the number one issue for voters was the cost-of-living.

People are facing soaring monthly bills, stagnant wages and after thirteen years of Conservative rule are rightly asking: am I any better off?

For too many that answer is, no.

But Thursday showed there is another way. We have the opportunity to build a better York.

York Labour will get straight to work to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, for their city, and deliver on the faith people have put in them.

They will create emergency cost of living action plans, and review local housing plans.

They’ll act now to ease people’s pockets and support their aspirations.

Claire and York’s new Labour leadership will review their inheritance and pull every lever possible to relieve the intolerable burden that this government has placed on working people.

We know it’s now our duty to not waste a day in delivering on the Labour commitment to ease the squeeze on people’s pockets.

That work starts now, because we get it.

Only Labour will deliver for communities in York Only Labour will build a better Britain.

Keir Starmer and Claire Douglas, Leader of York Council