MP Tony Vaughan says Labour will always choose to fight for working people

The party of the working people will always have to fight harder to support its people than the parties representing the wealthy elite.

When we built the NHS, introducing free healthcare for all, we had to struggle against those who stood to gain from keeping healthcare private.

Those same voices now support it.

When we introduced the national minimum wage, we were told it would kill jobs and cause inflation.

Employment rose, inflation stayed low and working people were guaranteed a decent level of income.

Those same voices now support it.

The creation of the Open University. Devolution. Maternity pay and paternity leave. Criticised at the time by those who stood to gain from the status quo.

Those same voices now support these measures.

Why? Because when Labour chooses to act in the interests of working people, the rich and powerful in the media tell the country that the idea is mad, bad or dangerous, often a mixture of the three.

When the law is passed, and the country sees how beneficial these policies are, the powerful have no choice but to fall in behind public opinion and support the policies.

On Monday (April 6), we had three examples of this.

- The biggest strengthening of workers' rights in a generation

Workers across the country now have day-one rights to statutory sick pay and paternity leave.

We also increased the minimum wage from £12.21 to £12.71 per hour, putting even more money directly into the pockets of those who need it most.

What kind of country would allow an economy to be built where workers didn’t have fundamental protections in their contracts, or where workers could not benefit from fair pay for a fair day’s work?

Why, when we know how critical the early years of a child’s development are, would we cause working fathers to miss those precious first days with a newborn child?

An economy thrives when people are treated with decency and dignity. Our expanded workers’ rights does exactly that, and I am proud to support it.

- Taking children out of poverty

Perhaps one of the proudest moments of my time supporting this Labour government has been the abolition of the two-child benefit cap, which came into effect on Monday.

The evidence is undeniable: growing up in poverty denies children a fair chance in life and bakes in inequality before they even start school.

By lifting this cap, we are lifting 450,000 children out of poverty. In my constituency alone, this policy will benefit just over 2,000 children.

- Increasing the state pension

We also know that a civilised society is judged by how it treats those who have built it.

That is why we are proudly increasing the state pension by up to £575.

The cost of living remains a real problem for millions of pensioners across the country, so this increase in the state pension will provide significant help.

These achievements - alongside our decisive action to bring household energy bills down by an average of £117 this week - are not small tweaks.

They provide substantial, real-world benefits, representing our core Labour values: community, solidarity, respect, fairness, justice, equality of opportunity.

Every single success of this Government has been hard-fought against those who stood to gain from the status quo.

But we have made our choice, the Labour choice: we choose to fight for working people.

The milestone changes that kicked in on April 6 prove one simple truth that many in the corporate media will try to hide: Labour is delivering.