What has the Labour Government ever done for us?
The 2025 Labour Government that we campaigned for so hard has raised pay, reduced family costs, cut child poverty, strengthened public services, rebuilt infrastructure, led the clean energy transition, and restored security and competence.
This is not a government short on achievement. The delivery has massively outpaced its public recognition. Even if the press were minded to be reasonable, it would be hard for them or any of us to keep up with all that Labour has done.
This is K&S CLP’s totally biased ranked list of Labour’s key achievements in the current government up to the end of February 2026.
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#1 Restored Stability and Serious Government
#2 Delivered Record NHS Investment and Cut Waiting Lists
#4 Expanded Free Childcare and Nursery Funding
#5 Increased the Minimum Wage Above Inflation
#6 Rolled Out Free Breakfast Clubs
#7 Created Great British Energy
#9 Dismantling the Two-Child Limit on Child Benefit
#10 Renationalised Passenger Rail
#11 Taxed the Rich, Helped Working Families
#12 Launched Family Hubs Nationwide
#13 Reasserted Britain’s Global Leadership
#14 Restored Employment Rights
#15 Put Water Companies Under Public Scrutiny
#16 Reformed Technical Skills and Apprenticeships
#17 Restored Britain’s Standing in Europe
#18 Neighbourhood Policing and Crime Policy
#19 Turned Climate Reality into Industrial Strategy
#20 Implemented the Online Safety Regime
#21 Stood Firm with Ukraine and Defended European Security
#22 Unblocked Planning and Affordable Housebuilding
#23 Humanitarian Border Enforcement and Tackling Smuggling Gangs
#24 Expanded Mental Health Support in Schools and Communities
#25 Reset Britain’s Defence Strategy
#27 Returned Control of Buses to Local Authorities
#28 Created an Armed Forces Commissioner
#1 Restored Stability and Serious Government
This is the achievement that makes all the others possible. And it has been delivered despite an incredibly hostile billionaire press and bot-driven, hate-filled social media.
After years of chaos, churn and performative politics, this government has restored stability and seriousness to the business of governing. Not as a slogan, but as a lived reality felt across public services, the economy, and Britain’s standing in the world.
For much of the last decade, government became something closer to a spectacle than an institution. Prime ministers came and went. Long-term planning collapsed under short-term politics. Public trust drained away.
The result was not just bad headlines: it was a country that struggled to function. NHS backlogs grew. Infrastructure stalled. Energy security was neglected. International credibility frayed. Even when problems were obvious, government lacked the stability to fix them.
This government has changed that.
Stability does not mean inertia. It means the ability to take difficult decisions and see them through. Serious government means planning beyond the next headline, funding policies properly, and accepting responsibility for outcomes.
That seriousness runs through every part of this chart rundown.
- It is why the NHS is being rebuilt with record, sustained funding rather than empty promises.
- Why childcare, breakfast clubs and free school meals are treated as infrastructure, not giveaways.
- Why employment rights are restored rather than eroded.
- Why rail, energy and water are governed in the public interest again.
- Why Britain speaks with a coherent voice internationally, rather than lurching between postures.
None of this happens in a politics of permanent disruption.
Populist movements thrive on instability. Their intent and language is always about “breaking”, “smashing”, “tearing up”. They have little interest in governing because governing requires compromise, institutions, and patience. Where they do gain power – including in local councils like Warwickshire – the result is often infighting, paralysis and disarray.
That is not accidental. Chaos is a feature of populism, not a bug.
Labour’s approach is the opposite.
- It treats government as something that must work day after day, under pressure, for people who rely on it.
- It respects institutions while reforming them.
- It values expertise without being captured by it.
- It governs with purpose rather than permanent outrage.
This is why the central choice at the next election is becoming clear – stability and progress versus rolling the dice.
This government has shown what serious, stable government looks like and what it can deliver when given the chance. The task now is to protect that stability, build on it, and refuse to return to an era where disruption was mistaken for strength.
#2 Delivered Record NHS Investment and Cut Waiting Lists
The NHS is Britain’s most cherished public institution, and it entered this Parliament under unprecedented strain.
At the start of this government, NHS waiting lists stood at over 7.5 million treatments, the highest on record. Staff shortages were acute, diagnostic capacity lagged behind comparable countries, and capital investment had fallen badly behind need.
This government has responded with record NHS investment, focused squarely on reducing waiting lists and rebuilding capacity.
In the October 2024 Budget, Labour committed an additional £22.6 billion increase in day-to-day NHS spending, representing the largest sustained real-terms funding uplift for the NHS in its history. This funding is targeted – not cosmetic.
It is being used to:
- expand diagnostic capacity, including new community diagnostic centres
- increase elective care throughput, with extended operating hours and additional surgical hubs
- stabilise the workforce, through pay settlements, training places and long-term planning
- strengthen primary and community care, easing pressure on hospitals
These investments address the actual bottlenecks that created long waits: scanners, theatres, staff and beds.
The impact is measurable. Diagnostic activity has increased, elective capacity has expanded, and productivity is rising from post-pandemic lows. There is of course still work to do but waiting lists are coming down. The focus has shifted from denial to delivery.
It is also important to be clear about context. NHS waiting lists rose sharply during the pandemic and continued to rise afterwards because demand increased faster than capacity. No serious health system recovers overnight. What matters is whether capacity is being built and whether the trajectory is changing, and on that test, this government is delivering.
Locally, this matters deeply. In Warwickshire, pressure on hospital services, elective care and GP access has been a constant source of anxiety for patients and clinicians. Increased funding supports local trusts to add capacity, reduce delays, and relieve pressure on families and carers.
The contrast with the past is stark. Conservative governments repeatedly promised to cut waiting lists without providing the funding or workforce required to do so. Reform UK offers no credible plan to fund the NHS at all, instead flirting with insurance-based models that would fragment care and increase inequality.
Labour’s approach is grounded in reality: if you want shorter waits, you must fund staff, buildings and equipment and plan for the long term.
Rebuilding the NHS was never going to be quick. But with record investment, honest diagnosis and sustained focus, this government has begun the work of renewal.
#3 Banned No-Fault Evictions
Millions of renters have been living with a constant insecurity: hey could be forced out of their home at any time, for no reason, with little notice.
Section 21 “no-fault” evictions allowed landlords to evict tenants even when rent was paid and rules were followed. It undermined stability, weakened tenants’ ability to challenge poor conditions, and made it harder for families to put down roots.
This government has banned no-fault evictions through the Renters’ Rights Act, ending one of the most unfair features of the private rented sector.
The reform restores a simple principle: if you meet your responsibilities as a tenant, you should be able to stay in your home. The Renters’ Rights Bill preserves clear, fair grounds for possession where landlords have legitimate reasons, such as rent arrears, anti-social behaviour, or a genuine need to sell or move in, but it ends eviction as an arbitrary threat.
For renters, the change is transformational. It provides security, stability and dignity – allowing people to plan their lives, change jobs, enrol children in schools, and raise concerns about conditions without fear of retaliation. It also strengthens enforcement against poor standards, because tenants can speak up without risking their home.
Locally, the impact is significant. In Warwickshire, where private renting has grown and affordability pressures are high, short-notice evictions have disrupted work, education and health, and pushed families towards homelessness and temporary accommodation. Ending no-fault evictions reduces churn and eases pressure on councils and local services.
Critics claim that landlords will leave the market. This argument has been made whenever basic protections are strengthened for working people, and repeatedly fails to materialise at scale. Landlords continue to operate successfully in countries and regions with stronger tenant protections because predictability cuts both ways. Clear rules, reasonable possession grounds and longer tenancies create stability for landlords as well as tenants. What drives landlords out is uncertainty, poor enforcement, and a race to the bottom. If you do not want to be fair, you should not be in the market.
The contrast with the past is clear. Conservative governments promised to abolish Section 21 for years but failed to deliver. Reform UK opposes stronger tenant protections altogether, favouring deregulation that would tip the balance back towards insecurity.
Labour’s approach recognises that housing security underpins everything else: employment, education, health and community life. A fair rental market balances legitimate landlord interests with the need for stability and fairness for tenants.
Banning no-fault evictions is not anti-landlord. It is pro-stability, pro-community, and pro-fairness.
It marks a decisive shift away from insecurity and towards a housing system that works for the people who live in it.
#4 Expanded Free Childcare and Nursery Funding
For years, childcare costs were one of the biggest barriers holding families and the economy back.
But they also had a clear and unequal impact: women paid the highest price.
Too many mothers were forced to reduce hours, stall careers or leave work entirely because childcare simply did not stack up. The result was lost income, lost progression, and a stubborn gender pay gap driven not by choice, but by cost.
This government has expanded free childcare and nursery funding, delivering one of the most significant advances for women’s employment and family equality in a generation.
The reforms are practical and substantial. Free childcare entitlements have been extended to cover more children at younger ages, and funding for providers has been increased to make delivery viable. This is not just about promised hours: it is about making sure nurseries can offer real places, pay staff properly, and deliver quality care.
For families, the impact is immediate. Expanded childcare support can be worth thousands of pounds a year, transforming household finances and giving parents real options. For many women, it is the difference between being able to work, increase hours, or progress at work and being locked out of opportunity.
For the economy, the benefits are clear. Affordable childcare enables higher female labour market participation, increases household income, and boosts growth. Economists consistently show that childcare investment pays for itself by unlocking talent and reducing reliance on in-work support.
Locally, this matters deeply. In Warwickshire, families have faced high childcare costs and uneven availability, particularly for under-threes. Expanded funding helps stabilise local nurseries, supports the early-years workforce (itself predominantly female), and gives parents – especially mothers – genuine choice rather than forced compromise.
The contrast with the past is stark. Conservative governments talked about childcare, but underfunded delivery and left providers struggling. Reform UK offers little more than rhetoric, opposing public investment while ignoring the reality that childcare is essential economic infrastructure.
Labour’s approach treats childcare as what it is: a foundation of equality. It supports children’s development, enables women to participate fully in the workforce, and strengthens families and the economy at the same time.
Expanded free childcare is not just a family policy. It is about equality and economic growth, and it is a statement about the kind of society we want to be.
#5 Increased the Minimum Wage Above Inflation
Work should pay.
People at the bottom of payscales found themselves falling behind. Wages lagged prices. Living standards stalled. And the promise that work would bring security quietly broke down.
Labour has begun to restore that promise.
By increasing the minimum wage above inflation, Labour has put real money back into the pockets of the lowest-paid workers, not as a one-off gesture, but as a deliberate choice about the kind of economy we want.
An above-inflation rise means people aren’t just standing still while prices race ahead. It means covering the basics with a little less anxiety. It means fewer impossible trade-offs between food, heating and rent. And it means that work once again moves you forward, not backwards.
Low pay isn’t just unfair; it’s inefficient. When wages are too low, the state ends up subsidising bad business models through in-work benefits, while productivity suffers and local economies stagnate. Raising the wage floor supports demand, rewards effort, and strengthens the foundations of growth.
Labour understands this. Conservatives too often treated low pay as inevitable. Or worse, as a competitive advantage. Reform UK would take us backwards altogether, attacking worker protections while pretending the problem is immigration rather than exploitation.
Labour has chosen a different path: fair pay for honest work.
There’s also a clear link to family life. When wages rise at the bottom, pressure eases elsewhere. Parents have a little more breathing space. Households are more resilient. And the everyday stress that spills into schools, health services and communities begins to reduce.
Across Warwickshire and the West Midlands, where retail, care, hospitality and logistics employ thousands on lower wages, this is not abstract economics. It is the difference between just coping and slowly getting ahead.
This isn’t the end of the journey. Raising wages doesn’t remove the need for affordable childcare, secure housing, or strong public services. But it is a crucial step in rebuilding a social contract that says effort will be rewarded.
#6 Rolled Out Free Breakfast Clubs
You can’t learn on an empty stomach. And you shouldn’t have to.
Every teacher knows it. Every parent knows it.
Children who arrive at school hungry struggle to concentrate, struggle to regulate their behaviour, and struggle to learn. Breakfast isn’t a “nice extra”. It’s a basic foundation for education.
For too long, that reality was ignored. Under the Conservatives, child food insecurity rose, schools were left to plug the gaps themselves, and the national response drifted between denial and culture-war theatrics. Marcus Rashford shouldn’t have had to shame the Tories into feeding children.
Labour has taken a different approach: calm, practical, and rooted in fairness.
By rolling out free breakfast clubs in primary schools, Labour has acted on something simple and proven: making sure children start the day fed, settled, and ready to learn; not already behind before the first lesson begins.
Breakfast clubs deliver multiple benefits at once.
- They support children, improving concentration, behaviour and readiness to learn.
- They support families, easing pressure on household budgets and helping parents manage work and school routines.
- And they support schools, creating calmer starts to the day and better learning environments for everyone.
The evidence here is strong, which is exactly why Labour moved quickly. Schools serving disadvantaged communities benefit most, but the impact is wider than that. When fewer children arrive hungry or distressed, classrooms work better for all pupils.
There’s also a deeper point about how Labour governs.
Rather than moralising about “personal responsibility” or outsourcing compassion to charities, Labour has focused on outcomes. If we want children to succeed, we remove avoidable barriers in their way. If we want parents to work, we make daily life a little more manageable.
That stands in clear contrast to Reform UK, who dismiss child poverty as a personal failing, and to Conservatives who spent years blocking, delaying or minimising support while living standards fell. Labour has chosen seriousness instead.
Across Warwickshire and the West Midlands, schools already know the value of breakfast provision. It means fewer children starting the day at a disadvantage. It means teachers can teach. And it means families feel supported rather than judged.
In the long run, policies like this also reduce pressure elsewhere, including on the NHS, by preventing problems rather than paying for their consequences later. Free breakfast clubs won’t solve everything. But they show what Labour believes:
- that every child deserves a fair start,
- that prevention beats crisis,
- and that government can quietly improve everyday life when it chooses to.
#7 Created Great British Energy
Under the Tories, following Thatcher’s privatision, Britain’s energy system worked against the public interest.
Bills were volatile, investment was fragmented, and energy security was treated as an afterthought. Even as the climate crisis accelerated, the UK lacked a public vehicle capable of driving the transition at scale and ensuring the benefits of clean energy flowed back to the country.
This government has created Great British Energy, established in law through the Great British Energy Act, as a publicly owned company with a clear national mission: to accelerate clean energy, strengthen energy security, and deliver lower, more stable bills over time.
Under the Act, the company is empowered to invest directly in clean power including offshore wind, solar and other renewables so as to take public stakes in projects, and to crowd in private investment where it delivers clear public value. Instead of relying solely on short-term market incentives, the state is once again playing a strategic role in building critical national infrastructure.
This matters because energy is not just another market. It is the backbone of the economy and a cornerstone of national security. Public ownership enables long-term planning, system coordination, and resilience. The privatised, fragmented model failed to provide this.
The benefits are tangible and long-term. By expanding domestic clean energy capacity, Great British Energy will:
- reduce exposure to global fossil fuel price shocks
- support lower and more predictable bills over time
- create skilled jobs and supply chains across the UK
- and strengthen Britain’s energy independence
This is also a serious industrial strategy. Clean energy investment anchors manufacturing, port infrastructure, engineering and high-skill employment. It will ensure the transition creates good jobs at home rather than exporting opportunity abroad.
The contrast with Reform UK could not be clearer. Reform openly denies the reality of climate change and opposes investment in clean energy. Their position is simply at odds with scientific evidence, economic reality and the interests of working people facing high bills. Their approach would lock Britain into fossil fuel dependence, higher costs, and strategic vulnerability.
Conservative governments talked about energy security, but failed to invest at the scale required and left households exposed to global gas markets. Labour has chosen a different path: public leadership, long-term investment, and a clear sense of national purpose.
Great British Energy is not about nationalisation for its own sake. It is about using public ownership where it makes sense. It will deliver outcomes the market alone has failed to provide.
In a world defined by climate instability and geopolitical risk, energy security is national security. Creating Great British Energy is a declaration that Britain will meet reality head-on, and shape its future rather than drift into it.
This is Labour governing with ambition for you.
#8 Expanded Free School Meals
There are few things more damaging to a child’s chances than going to school hungry.
For years, eligibility for free school meals failed to reflect reality. Families earning just above outdated thresholds were excluded, even as food prices rose sharply. Teachers saw the consequences daily with children struggling to concentrate, falling behind, or relying on informal support from schools and charities.
This government has expanded access to free school meals, ensuring that hundreds of thousands more children are guaranteed at least one nutritious meal every school day.
The impact is immediate and measurable. Evidence from previous expansions shows that children receiving free school meals:
- attend school more regularly
- concentrate better in lessons
- achieve higher educational outcomes
- and experience improved health and wellbeing
Independent research consistently finds that expanding free school meals is one of the most effective anti-poverty interventions available, reducing household food insecurity and lifting families out of deep hardship. For parents, it can be worth hundreds of pounds a year, directly easing pressure on household budgets. It’s also of great practical help and a stress-reliever for parents.
Crucially, the policy helps children who were previously invisible to the system: those whose parents work, but whose incomes are stretched by housing costs, childcare, and insecure employment. Expanding eligibility reflects how people actually live, not how spreadsheets assume they do.
The long-term effects are just as important. Children who are well fed at school are more likely to:
- reach expected attainment levels
- stay engaged with education
- avoid health problems linked to poor nutrition
That translates into better life chances, higher productivity, and lower long-term costs to the NHS and social services.
Expanding free school meals gives schools a reliable, dignified way to support pupils without stigma or ad-hoc crisis provision.
The contrast with the past is stark. Conservative governments repeatedly resisted expanding free school meals, even during periods of acute need, leaving schools and charities to fill the gap. Reform UK dismisses such support as dependency, ignoring the overwhelming evidence that feeding children improves outcomes and reduces long-term costs. It’s their usual hateful, scapegoating disinformation.
Labour’s approach is clear: feeding children is not optional. It is a basic foundation for learning, health and opportunity.
Expanded free school meals don’t just help children get through the school day. They help determine what kind of life those children go on to lead.
That is tangible impact. That is what government is for.
#9 Dismantling the Two-Child Limit on Child Benefit
Few policies came to symbolise the harshness of recent years as starkly as the two-child limit on child benefit.
Introduced by Conservative governments, the policy denied support to children simply because they were the third or fourth child in a family. It applied regardless of circumstance – whether families lost work, faced illness, fled abuse, or experienced unexpected change. Children were treated not as individuals with needs, but as a budget line to be capped.
This government has begun dismantling the two-child limit, marking a clear moral shift in how the state treats children and families.
The case against the policy has always been straightforward. Children do not choose the circumstances of their birth. Punishing them for it does nothing to encourage responsibility or improve outcomes, but it does entrench poverty. Independent analysis consistently showed that the two-child limit was one of the single biggest drivers of rising child poverty in the UK.
Labour’s approach is grounded in a different principle: support should follow need. By starting to unwind the two-child limit and reform how support for families is delivered, the government has taken a decisive step towards reducing child poverty and giving children a fairer start.
This matters locally as well as nationally. In Warwickshire, families facing rising housing costs, childcare pressures and insecure work have felt the impact of the policy acutely. Removing arbitrary limits on support helps stabilise households and reduces pressure on schools, councils and health services.
The contrast with the opposition is clear. Conservative governments defended the two-child limit even as evidence of its harm mounted. Reform UK supports cutting welfare further, offering no credible alternative to deal with child poverty beyond moralising about family choices. They would reintroduce the cap!
Labour’s position is pragmatic and humane. Supporting children early reduces long-term costs, improves educational outcomes, and strengthens communities.
This is what values in government look like.
#10 Renationalised Passenger Rail
Few public services symbolised Britain’s failures under the Tories as clearly as the railways.
Passengers faced rising fares, fragmented services, cancelled trains and a system so complex that even seasoned commuters struggled to understand who was responsible when things went wrong. Meanwhile, profits leaked out through management fees and dividends, often to overseas state-owned rail companies.
This government has renationalised passenger rail, bringing services back into public ownership as existing contracts expire and replacing fragmentation with a single, accountable public operator.
Under privatisation, risk was all ours and profit was privatised. When operators failed, the taxpayer stepped in. When services were poor, passengers had nowhere to turn. Accountability was blurred by layers of contracts and sub-contracts, while costs rose and reliability fell.
Labour has begun to reverse that failure. Passenger services are being brought back into public ownership in an orderly, responsible way, including West Midlands Rail, which now operates under public control. For passengers across the West Midlands and Warwickshire, this means clearer accountability, better coordination, and an operator focused on service rather than shareholder returns.
At the same time, the government has acted to stabilise rail fares, ending the era of relentless above-inflation increases that priced people off the network. Fixing fares is not a technical tweak. It is about restoring rail as a genuinely usable public service for commuters, families and businesses.
Public ownership allows revenue to be reinvested directly into reliability, staffing and infrastructure rather than extracted as profit. It also enables long-term planning, integrated ticketing and a more coherent network -things the privatised model consistently failed to deliver.
Reform UK would take the Tories deregulation even further, despite clear evidence that rail works best as a coordinated public service.
Public ownership of rail is also popular – supported by large majorities across political divides. People understand, instinctively, that essential infrastructure should serve the country, not extract from it.
This is Labour doing what it does best: fixing what ideology broke, and putting the public back in control.
#11 Taxed the Rich, Helped Working Families
For too long, Britain’s tax and economic system pulled in the wrong direction. Working families pay their dues, while those with the greatest resources benefited from loopholes, preferential treatment and a system that asked less of them.
This government has begun to reverse that imbalance; taxing wealth more fairly at the top, while helping working families through higher pay, lower costs and stronger public services.
At the top end, Labour has closed the non-dom loophole and tightened tax rules that allowed some of the wealthiest to live in Britain while shielding large parts of their income from UK tax. This was not about punishing success, but about ending special treatment and restoring the basic principle that everyone should play by the same rules.
But redistribution has not stopped at tax reform.
Working families have benefited directly from higher minimum wages, rising above inflation and putting more money into the pockets of those who need it most. For many households, this has had a bigger immediate impact than any tax cut.
At the same time, the government has reduced unavoidable costs that hit lower-income families hardest, expanding childcare and nursery provision, rolling out breakfast clubs, improving energy efficiency through the Warm Homes Plan, and strengthening support for families with children. Cutting family costs helps the poorest more directly because it targets help where it matters.
Stronger employment rights have also shifted the balance of power at work, improving job security, sick pay and protections for people in insecure jobs. That is redistribution of risk as well as income, and it matters enormously to family stability.
Predictably, critics warn of “tax flight” or claim that fairness will drive wealth away. But evidence shows that people choose to live and invest in countries because of stability, infrastructure, skilled workers and quality of life, not because a handful of loopholes remain open. A system seen as fair is more attractive, not less.
The contrast with the opposition is clear. Conservative governments defended loopholes while public services struggled. Reform UK opposes wealth taxation almost entirely, which in practice protects those at the top while offering little to working families.
Labour’s approach is different. It recognises that a strong society depends on shared contribution, and that fairness at the top creates room to support those who do the work that keeps the country running.
This is not the end of the journey. But it is a clear change of direction.
#12 Launched Family Hubs Nationwide
This is not the first Labour government to understand the importance of supporting families early.
In the late 1990s and 2000s, Labour created Sure Start, a network of children’s centres that transformed early years support across the country. Independent evaluations found that Sure Start:
- improved early childhood development, including better language and social skills, particularly for disadvantaged children
- increased access to childcare, health services and parenting support, reducing inequality in early learning outcomes
- reduced hospital admissions for young children and improved long-term outcomes in schooling and wellbeing
Studies from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the National Evaluation of Sure Start found that children in Sure Start areas had statistically significant improvements in cognitive and social development, especially in the most deprived communities.
And then it was dismantled by the Tories.
Over a decade of Conservative cuts hollowed out early help. Children’s centres closed, services fragmented, and support for families became harder to find just as pressures on parents increased. The cost of that retreat has been paid ever since by schools, the NHS, social care, and by families themselves.
By launching Family Hubs nationwide, Labour is rebuilding early, joined-up support for families, updated for today’s needs, but rooted in the same Labour principles and an understanding that prevention works.
Family Hubs bring services together around families rather than forcing families to navigate disconnected systems. They integrate support from pregnancy through early years and adolescence – including health visiting, early education, parenting support and mental health services – making help easier to access and earlier to reach those who need it.
The difference this time is scale and commitment. Family Hubs are being placed on a national footing, backed by funding, coordination and clear expectations, rather than left as isolated pilots vulnerable to future cuts. The aim is consistency, so families can rely on support wherever they live.
That matters locally. In Warwickshire, as elsewhere, families benefit most when early years services, schools, health and local authorities work together. When support is visible and connected, problems are identified earlier and outcomes improve for children, parents and communities.
The contrast with the opposition is clear. Reform UK dismisses preventative services as unnecessary. Conservative governments allowed them to wither.
Family Hubs represent a return to a simple Labour truth: that helping families early is not charity, and not bureaucracy. It is smart, humane government.
#13 Reasserted Britain’s Global Leadership
The Tories weakened Britain’s voice on the world stage: inconsistency, distraction and strategic drift. Leadership was too often defined by domestic division rather than international engagement leaving allies unsure and adversaries emboldened. Let’s face it, Johnson and Truss made us a laughing stock.
This government has reasserted Britain’s global leadership with seriousness, clarity and purpose, rooted in values and interests alike. Nowhere was that clearer than at the 2026 Munich Security Conference, where the Prime Minister articulated a renewed role for the UK in shaping European and global security in turbulent times.
In his keynote address, the Prime Minister made it plain that Britain is not the Britain of the Brexit years anymore, stressing that in an unstable world we cannot retreat or turn inward. Instead, he argued, Europe and the UK must stand together, deepen ties, bolster defence capabilities and share burdens across alliances like NATO while still honouring the transatlantic relationship.
That shift was not just rhetoric. The speech outlined a strategic understanding that security and prosperity are linked, that building hard power and coordinated defence is necessary to deter aggression, and that Britain must leverage its diplomatic, military and economic strengths in partnership with neighbours.
This is a real departure from recent years. Under Prime Ministers Johnson and Truss, British foreign policy was too often defined by chaos, confusion and capricious unilateral gambits from Brexit brinkmanship that alienated key partners to ill-thought-through engagements that eroded trust. Rather than being at the centre of security decision-making, Britain was too often on the margins, its influence diluted by distraction. The other Tory prime ministers were merely adequate in comparison with Starmer.
Reform UK’s approach compounds the danger. Its instinctive hostility to international cooperation and alliances would undermine Britain’s influence precisely when collective action, whether on defence, climate, trade or human rights, matters most. Isolationism would make Britain poorer, weaker, and less secure.
By contrast, this government’s approach is earned, not assumed. It blends respect for long-standing alliances with a clear view of contemporary risks: Russian aggression, cyber threats, strategic rivalry. Labour will meet them with coordinated strength.
Reasserting Britain’s leadership means being present, constructive and influential in the forums where the future is shaped, not shouting from the sidelines. It means engaging with Europe without illusions, leading where possible, collaborating where necessary, and ensuring British interests are protected by partnership and purpose.
In a more dangerous and interconnected world, seriousness in foreign policy is not optional. This government has brought that seriousness back.
#14 – Restored Employment Rights
This is what Labour exists to do.
The Tories caused work in Britain to become less secure, less predictable and less fair, even for people doing everything right. Zero-hours contracts, fire-and-rehire tactics, weak sick pay and hollow protections left millions working hard but living on a knife-edge.
This Labour government has reformed employment rights to make work pay again, through the Make Work Pay agenda 2024 and the Employment Rights Act 2025, resetting the balance of power at work and restoring fairness as a basic expectation.
Labour has acted decisively. The Employment Rights Bill bans abusive fire-and-rehire practices, strengthens day-one rights, extends statutory sick pay, improves access to flexible working, and reinforces protections for people in insecure or low-paid jobs. These are not symbolic gestures. They change how work feels for millions of people.
That matters locally. In Warwickshire, large numbers of people work in sectors where insecurity has crept in through lack of unionisation: care, retail, logistics, hospitality and distribution. Too often, workers in these industries have faced unpredictable hours, limited sick pay, and pressure to accept worse terms or lose their jobs. These reforms directly improve day-to-day life for people who keep local services running.
This is a clear break with the past. Previous governments talked endlessly about “flexibility” while tolerating exploitation. In practice, that meant insecurity for workers and unfair competition for responsible employers who wanted to do the right thing. The result was low morale, low productivity and a race to the bottom.
Reform UK’s answer is to strip back protections even further, dressed up as “freedom”. But there is nothing free about insecurity, and nothing empowering about being disposable. Weak rights do not create a strong economy; they entrench unfairness.
Labour’s approach recognises a simple truth: fair work is good economics. When people have security, they are more productive, more loyal, and better able to plan their lives. Strong employment rights support families, stabilise local economies, and reward businesses that invest in their workforce.
Restoring employment rights is Labour doing what Labour was created to do: standing with working people, and building an economy that works for them, in Warwickshire and across the country.
#15 Put Water Companies Under Public Scrutiny
Thatcher’s sell-off has delivered polluted rivers, sewage discharges, rising bills and crumbling infrastructure, while water company executives were rewarded, foreign owners creamed off profits, and regulators appeared powerless.
This government has put failing water companies under official public scrutiny and as with the railways is moving towards public control.
It would be dishonest to pretend the problem is solved, but something important has changed: for the first time in decades, the government has accepted that the existing model has failed and has started to act accordingly.
Through the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025, Labour has given regulators serious powers to intervene when companies fail environmentally or financially. That includes the ability to block bonuses for executives at underperforming firms, impose tougher penalties for sewage dumping, and scrutinise company finances and debt more aggressively.
This matters because the problem was never just pollution. It was a system that allowed companies to load themselves with debt, under-invest in infrastructure, and extract value for shareholders while passing risk to customers, communities and the environment.
Locally, in Warwickshire and across the Midlands, the consequences of Thatcher’s legacy and Tory failure have been obvious: river pollution, flood risk, and public frustration at companies that seemed unaccountable. Ending the free pass for failure is the necessary first step to restoring trust.
Reform UK would weaken environmental protections further, doubling down on the same failed Tory logic.Other than that, they are of course silent on the issue as they are in the pay of billionaire overseas owners.
This government has chosen a different direction. Not grand gestures or instant fixes, but real levers of control, and a recognition that water is not just another commodity, but a vital public good.
There is more to do. Stronger investment requirements, tougher enforcement, and long-term reform of ownership and governance must follow. But you cannot fix what you refuse to confront.
#16 Reformed Technical Skills and Apprenticeships
We always hear about skills shortages, but the Tories let the matter drift. Apprenticeship starts fell, qualifications were fragmented, and too many young people were pushed down academic routes that did not match the needs of the modern economy.
This government has begun to reform technical skills and apprenticeships as a core pillar of national growth and opportunity.
The UK will now have a strategic, employer-linked skills system. Through the creation of Skills England and reforms to apprenticeships and technical education, the government is aligning training more closely with real labour-market demand. We will focus on quality, progression and relevance rather than chasing headline numbers.
In Warwickshire, FE colleges and training providers play a crucial role in supplying skills for engineering, construction, health and social care, logistics and advanced manufacturing, not least in collaboration with our great universities. Employers across the county consistently report shortages in technical and trade skills. This hold back growth, housebuilding and infrastructure delivery. A clearer national framework helps FE colleges plan provision with confidence and gives learners more reliable routes into skilled work.
The changes are being underpinned by concrete institutional and legislative change. The Skills England Bill and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc.) Act 2025 are reshaping how standards are set, how qualifications are approved, and how skills policy is coordinated nationally. This is to fix a system that had become overly complex and disconnected from economic reality.
Reform UK offers little more than slogans here. It talks about “skills” and “common sense” but has no credible plan to fund, coordinate or deliver technical education at scale. Wishing skills shortages away, or assuming the market will fix them unaided, is not a strategy it is abdication.
Labour sees that a serious growth strategy requires a serious skills strategy. That means backing FE colleges, valuing technical routes properly, and building pathways that lead to real jobs, decent pay and progression.
It is about preparing people – in Warwickshire and across the country – for the jobs that actually exist, and those that will exist in the years ahead.
#17 Restored Britain’s Standing in Europe
For much of the last decade, Britain’s relationship with Europe was defined by friction, mistrust and the self-inflicted damage of Farage’s Brexit and Johnson’s farcical and self-interested mismanagement. Permanent confrontation with our nearest neighbours was weakening Britain’s influence, credibility and economic prospects.
The Labour government has immediately restored Britain’s standing in Europe through serious diplomacy, cooperation and professionalism without relitigating old arguments or making unrealistic promises.
Keir Starmer has re-engaged constructively through forums such as the European Political Community, working alongside EU and non-EU partners on shared challenges including security, migration and energy resilience. Britain is once again present, listened to, and treated as a serious actor.
Labour has strengthened coordination with European allies on support for Ukraine, sanctions enforcement, intelligence sharing and defence planning, recognising that European security and Britain’s safety depend on close partnership. This complements NATO and reinforces Britain’s role as a leading European security power.
Relations with the EU itself have also become functional once again. The government has prioritised practical improvements, reducing friction where possible, restoring trust in day-to-day engagement, and rebuilding working relationships that had been allowed to atrophy or in some cases (Johnson!) totally disrespected. The result is better outcomes for Britain.
This is about making Britain’s position work better in the real world. Mature governments understand that cooperation is not weakness. It is how influence is exercised.
Reform UK offers no serious alternative, only reheated grievances and a posture of permanent antagonism that would leave Britain weaker, poorer and more isolated at a time of global instability.
Restoring Britain’s standing in Europe strengthens trade, security and diplomacy. It ensures Britain is once again part of the conversations that shape our continent, rather than shouting from the sidelines.
In a more dangerous and interconnected world, seriousness in foreign policy matters. This government has brought that seriousness back.
#18 Neighbourhood Policing and Crime Policy
Under the Tories, the erosion of neighbourhood policing has been one of the clearest signs that the state had stepped back from its basic responsibilities. Fewer officers on the streets, slower responses, and a sense that everyday crime and antisocial behaviour were being tolerated all undermined public confidence.
The Labour government has begun to reverse that trend by restoring neighbourhood policing and strengthening crime policy, putting visible, accountable policing back at the heart of communities.
In Warwickshire, residents have seen neighbourhood teams thinned out over the last decade, with officers pulled into reactive roles and fewer familiar faces on the streets. Rural areas and smaller towns in particular have felt the impact, as limited police presence made it harder to deal early with antisocial behaviour, persistent low-level crime and community tensions.
The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee is underway: thousands of extra neighbourhood officers are being recruited, communities now have named local officers, and the government has set a clear target of 13,000 additional neighbourhood policing roles by 2029, with around 3,000 already planned by March 2026.
Neighbourhood policing works because it is preventative as well as reactive. Officers who know their patch can build trust, spot problems early, gather intelligence and intervene before issues escalate. When that presence disappears, confidence falls, and crime fills the gap.
Labour’s approach recognises that effective crime policy is not about posturing. It is about capacity, consistency and visibility. That includes rebuilding frontline policing numbers, strengthening neighbourhood teams, and supporting officers properly so that policing is something communities experience day to day.
The contrast with what came before is clear. Years of Conservative cuts reduced police numbers and hollowed out local teams, even as demand grew. Promises were made, but neighbourhood policing was too often treated as expendable. Communities were left feeling exposed, while officers were stretched thin and morale suffered.
Reform UK offers a different kind of failure: loud rhetoric about “law and order” without any serious plan to rebuild the policing infrastructure that actually makes communities safer. Shouting about toughness does not put officers back on the beat, fund local teams, or rebuild trust between police and the public.
This government has backed its approach with action. Through new legislation and funding commitments including measures in the Crime and Policing Bill and support for restoring neighbourhood policing as a core function, Labour has made clear that public safety is not optional. Everyday crime matters, and local policing matters.
#19 Turned Climate Reality into Industrial Strategy
Climate change is no longer a theoretical debate or a future problem. It is a reality already reshaping global markets, industrial supply chains, investment decisions and geopolitical power. Governments can respond to that reality or deny it and fall behind.
This government has chosen to respond, by turning the reality of the climate crisis into a modern industrial strategy.
That matters because the future of advanced manufacturing, aviation, materials, chemicals and transport will be low-carbon by design. This is not a moral argument alone; it is an economic fact. The countries that recognise this reality early will build the industries and jobs of the future. Those that pretend otherwise will import them, or lose out entirely. Labour has decided it will be British jobs from British technology.
Labour has provided the clarity and certainty that industry needs. By backing clean and sustainable industrial technologies including areas such as sustainable aviation fuel, low-carbon manufacturing processes and greener supply chains the government has signalled that Britain intends to compete in the industries that are already emerging, not cling to those in decline. That certainty is what unlocks private investment, skills development and long-term employment.
This is where the contrast with the opposition becomes unavoidable. Conservative governments spoke about green growth while repeatedly undermining confidence through delay, U-turns and short-term thinking. Reform UK goes further, rejecting climate reality altogether, dismissing sustainable technologies as if global technological change can be imagined away. Why do they not support sustainable innovation? Follow the money. Who Funds Reform.
Reform and the Tories position is not realism. It is denial. And it increasingly looks like policy shaped less by evidence than by the interests of those invested in yesterday’s economic models. When parties funded by fossil-era interests oppose future-facing industry, the pattern is hard to miss.
The Green Party is right to insist that climate change is urgent. But urgency alone is not enough. What matters is whether governments translate reality into delivery; clean factories, sustainable supply chains, new skills, future-proof jobs.
Turning climate reality into industrial strategy is the grown-up response. It accepts the science, the markets and the direction of travel and acts accordingly. It backs British workers and British industry by preparing them for the world as it is becoming, not the world some would prefer to pretend still exists.
That is what serious governments do when faced with reality: they plan, they invest, and they build.
#20 Implemented the Online Safety Regime
The online world has been allowed to operate with fewer rules than almost any other part of life. Platforms profited from scale and engagement while responsibility for harm -especially to children – was shrugged off, or deferred.
The Online Safety Act was first introduced under the previous government but was delayed, weakened and left incomplete. Labour picked up, strengthened and successfully implemented the legislation, giving Ofcom real powers to hold platforms to account and make the online world safer, especially for children and vulnerable users. This is what the independent Internet Commission thinks.
At its core, it is about a simple principle: what is illegal offline should not be acceptable online, and companies that design and profit from digital platforms must take reasonable steps to reduce harm. That includes tackling child sexual abuse material, fraud, harassment, extremist content and other serious online harms, not through voluntary codes, but through enforceable regulation.
Crucially, the focus is on systems and accountability, not on policing individual speech. Platforms are required to assess risks, put safeguards in place, and respond when harm occurs. Independent oversight and meaningful penalties mean this is no longer a box-ticking exercise, but a real change in how online spaces are governed.
This Labour government has recognised that the digital world is now part of everyday life, and that public protection must apply there too. That does not mean banning debate or sanitising the internet. It means setting clear rules, enforcing them, and refusing to accept that harm is simply the price of innovation.
Implementing the Online Safety regime is about responsibility: making the online environment safer, fairer and more accountable, especially for children and vulnerable users.
#21 Stood Firm with Ukraine and Defended European Security
Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine is not a distant conflict. It is a direct challenge to European security, international law, and the principle that borders cannot be changed by force. How Britain responds matters for Ukraine and for the kind of world we choose to live in.
This government has stood firm with Ukraine, providing sustained political, military and humanitarian support, while working closely with European partners to defend wider continental security. That stance has been consistent, serious and coordinated with our European partners.
Backing Ukraine involves long-term commitments: supporting Ukrainian self-defence, enforcing sanctions, disrupting Russian finance networks, and strengthening NATO’s eastern flank. It also means repairing and rebuilding relationships with European allies after years of unnecessary strain, recognising that security in the modern world is shared.
The contrast with Reform could not be clearer. Nigel Farage has repeatedly downplayed Russia’s responsibility for the war, suggested that NATO or the West “provoked” the invasion, and flirted with the language of retreat rather than resistance. That position may be framed as “realism”, but in practice it amounts to excusing aggression and abandoning allies.
History is unforgiving about Farage’s thinking. Neutrality in the face of invasion does not bring peace; it rewards the aggressor. Appeasement does not stabilise Europe; it destabilises it further. Ukraine is fighting not just for its own survival, but for the principle that might does not make right.
Standing firm with Ukraine is not warmongering. It is the sober recognition that peace is defended by strength, unity and resolve, and not by shrugging our shoulders and hoping someone else will deal with the consequences.
#22 Unblocked Planning and Affordable Housebuilding
For years, everyone agreed there was a crisis, but the system remained slow, risk-averse and internally contradictory, blocking the homes that communities actually need while pushing up costs and uncertainty.
The Labour government has begun to unblock the planning system and accelerate housebuilding, not by scrapping safeguards or riding roughshod over communities, but by restoring clarity, capacity and direction. The aim is simple: fewer stalled sites, faster decisions, and homes that are planned properly rather than endlessly delayed. It’s worth looking at what the industry thinks.
Planning had become paralysed. Local authorities were left navigating unclear national signals, viability rules that rewarded delay, and delivery models that often collapsed once costs changed. Developers, councils and residents all suffered the consequences, with years lost.
The legal foundation for unblocking planning and accelerating housebuilding was put in place by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, now law after Royal Assent. This landmark legislation is central to the government’s efforts to reform the planning system; reducing delays, streamlining approvals and helping get spades in the ground on new homes and infrastructure more quickly. Alongside revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework, these changes are designed to support the delivery of 1.5 million new homes by the end of this Parliament.
The changes now under way focus on getting the basics right: clearer national policy, more realistic delivery routes, and a planning system that can move from permission to build without falling apart halfway through. That includes recognising when previous assumptions no longer stack up, and having the flexibility to change course rather than letting sites sit empty.
This matters directly in Kenilworth, where the former Leyes Lane school site has stood undeveloped for far too long. Local people have lived with uncertainty, frustration and competing narratives about why nothing has happened. In reality, the site has been caught in exactly the kind of planning and delivery deadlock that has plagued housing across the country. Thanks to local Labour counciillors, the unviable delivery model, has been sorted out. We have a mythbuster here.
Unblocking planning does not mean ignoring local voices or lowering standards. It means creating a system where decisions are made transparently, delivery methods are realistic, and councils are empowered to move projects forward rather than endlessly firefighting inherited problems.
#23 Humanitarian Border Enforcement and Tackling Smuggling Gangs
Britain needs immigration. Refugees are welcome here. People who come to work, study, build families and contribute to our society are part of who we are. A fair, humane and functioning immigration system is a strength, and it reflects British values at their best.
Under the Conservatives, border policy was dominated by noise rather than results. Years of grandstanding, gimmicks and legally dubious schemes like Rwanda took centre stage, while criminal smuggling gangs continued to profit and the asylum system slid into chaos. Decisions slowed, backlogs ballooned, and tens of thousands were left stuck in costly hotel accommodation.
This government has taken a different approach: regaining control by fixing the system and targeting the criminals who exploit it, not by scapegoating migrants.
Labour has established a Border Security Command, bringing together law enforcement, intelligence agencies and international partners to disrupt smuggling networks at source. The focus is on serious organised crime: tracing finances, breaking supply chains, and prosecuting those who profit from human misery. That stands in sharp contrast to Tory and Reform proposals centred on cruelty, theatrics or offshoring responsibility.
The results are beginning to show. Asylum decision-making has accelerated, the backlog has fallen, and the number of people housed in hotels is now at its lowest level in over a year, reducing costs and restoring dignity. Faster, fairer decisions mean those with a right to stay can begin rebuilding their lives, while those with no valid claim are returned in an orderly and lawful way.
Irregular migration is a failure of enforcement against organised crime. Smuggling gangs thrive where systems are slow, fragmented and chaotic. Tackling them requires coordination, competence and international cooperation, not slogans.
Under this government, border policy has been reset around law, enforcement and realism: quicker decisions, stronger cooperation with European partners, firm but fair returns where claims fail, and sustained action against the gangs who traffic and exploit vulnerable people.
Taking control of border enforcement is not about abandoning humanitarian obligations. It is about restoring credibility to the system, protecting genuine refugees, reducing dangerous crossings, and replacing chaos with competence.
#24 Expanded Mental Health Support in Schools and Communities
This government began by expanding mental health support in schools and communities, recognising that early intervention matters not just for individual wellbeing, but for education, safeguarding and long-term life chances. Here is the headteachers’ view on Labour’s approach.
The new support includes the continued rollout of Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) linked directly to schools, increased funding for community mental health services, and closer integration between education, the NHS and local authorities. The focus is on getting help to children and young people earlier, in familiar settings, rather than waiting until difficulties escalate into crisis.
In Warwickshire, schools have seen rising levels of anxiety, depression and behavioural distress among pupils. These pressures were intensified by the pandemic and its aftermath. Teachers and school leaders have repeatedly raised concerns about long waits for specialist services and the lack of timely, joined-up support. Expanding school-linked mental health provision helps bridge that gap, giving schools access to trained professionals and clearer pathways for escalation when needed.
Under the Tories, mental health support, particularly for children and young people, was in a shocking state. Problems were spotted late, help was hard to access, and families were left navigating long waiting lists with little guidance or support. Schools were expected to cope with increasingly complex needs, often without specialist backing. Years of under-investment left child and adolescent mental health services overstretched long before Covid arrived. During the pandemic, the Johnson government’s chaotic handling of school closures, exams, and lockdowns placed enormous strain on children’s mental health, while support services struggled to keep up.
Rebuilding capacity takes time, but the shift in approach is clear. Mental health is no longer being treated as a niche issue or an optional add-on. It is being embedded as a core part of how public services support children, families and communities, with prevention, early help and coordination at the centre.
#25 Reset Britain’s Defence Strategy
Value for money isn’t about cutting defence spending. It’s about stopping the waste and directly addressing 21st century threats. For years we’ve paid billions for kit that isn’t usable. We have seen projects that overrun, platforms without crews or spares because of procurement lag. That’s terrible value.
One of the most important early actions of this government has been to reset Britain’s defence strategy. Not with slogans, but with seriousness. Here is the outcome. Prioritising readiness over shiny things, reforming procurement so failing projects are stopped earlier, buying common kit with allies to cut lifetime costs, and investing properly in sustainment and stockpiles.
Security is the return on that investment, and also new jobs in e.g. cyber defence. The grown-ups are in charge now.
The world Britain faces today is not the one of a decade ago. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, instability in the Middle East, cyber threats, attacks on undersea infrastructure and growing pressure on international rules-based systems have fundamentally changed the security environment. Pretending otherwise is negligence.
This government has responded by re-anchoring defence policy in realism: strengthening support for Ukraine, recommitting to NATO and international partnerships, investing in capabilities that reflect modern threats, and aligning defence planning with diplomacy, industry and energy security. The emphasis has shifted away from headline-chasing announcements towards long-term capability, readiness and resilience.
Crucially, this reset is about clarity of purpose. Defence is not culture-war material or a vehicle for performative toughness. It is about protecting the country, supporting allies, and ensuring that the armed forces have the equipment, leadership and strategic direction they need to operate lawfully and effectively.
Under the Tories, defence was often treated as a series of disconnected procurement projects rather than as a coherent national strategy. Meanwhile, some voices like Reform and the Greens offer simplistic answers; more spending without structure, or gestures that undermine international law and professional standards.
Resetting Britain’s defence strategy means accepting that security is built through alliances, law, professionalism and long-term planning. It means treating defence policy as a responsibility, not a performance sitting in a tank. In a more dangerous world, that grown-up approach is essential.
#26 Rebuilt NHS Dentistry
For many people, the collapse of NHS dentistry has been one of the most visible signs of public service failure under the Conservatives. Patients are unable to register with a dentist, there are long waiting lists, and stories of people resorting to emergency treatment or paying privately for basic care became depressingly normal under the Conservatives.
This government is rebuilding access to NHS dentistry, tackling both the immediate crisis and the structural problems that caused it. That includes reforming the dental contract, expanding urgent and emergency provision, and introducing incentives to bring dentists back into NHS practice. A major boost welcomed by dentists.
A substantial package of changes set to take effect on April 1, 2026. This follows a formal government consultation that took place in late 2025. The reforms represent the most significant shift in NHS dentistry since the current contract was introduced in 2006. They are designed to address the “access crisis” by moving away from the controversial Units of Dental Activity (UDA) treadmill towards a system that rewards complex and urgent care.
- Mandatory Urgent Care: For the first time, urgent and unscheduled care will be a core requirement. Practices must deliver at least 8.2% of their total contract value as urgent care (roughly 11 urgent courses per £10,000 of contract value).
Boosted Payments for Urgent Cases: To incentivize this, the flat rate for an urgent course of treatment is increasing by 76% from the previous 1.2 UDA value to a national fixed rate of £75. - Complex Care Pathways: Three new clinical pathways are being introduced for patients with advanced gum disease or severe decay. These will be paid at set national fees rather than fluctuating UDA rates, allowing dentists to spend more time on patients with high clinical needs without taking a financial hit.
- Skill Mix Expansion: Dental nurses who are suitably trained will be able to apply fluoride varnish as a standalone treatment (earning 0.5 UDAs), and fissure sealants will be moved to “Band 2” to better reward preventative work.
The problem was a system that made NHS work unviable for dentists, leaving patients stranded. Addressing that means doing the unglamorous work of fixing contracts, workforce planning and commissioning, not pretending there is a quick fix.
Locally, this matters because access to NHS dentistry has been especially fragile outside major cities. In Warwickshire, many residents will recognise the experience of being unable to find an NHS dentist at all, or having to travel significant distances for care. Improving access is not just about teeth; it is about preventing pain, avoiding hospital admissions, and stopping inequalities from widening further.
Rebuilding NHS dentistry is a long-term task, and this government has chosen to take it on rather than look the other way. And it is welcomed widely.
It is another example of a wider pattern: fixing what was allowed to break, restoring basic access, and doing the hard work needed to make public services function again.
#27 Returned Control of Buses to Local Authorities
During the Tory years, local bus services were a textbook example of how not to run essential public infrastructure. Under “deregulation”, routes were cut, fares rose, and whole communities were left isolated. Councils told you there was nothing they could do about it. The deregulated model failed, visibly and repeatedly, and local authorities were left picking up the social cost without the power to fix the problem.
You might not think about bus services much, unless you depend on them. The benefits to society and environment of great bus services would be immense. And the commercial operators still pull essential services.
The legal groundwork for Labour’s sorting out of bus services comes the 2025 Bus Services Act. Local authorities can now easily take control of local bus networks, determine routes, frequencies and fares, and even set up municipal bus companies. The priorities are no longer profit and network contraction.
This matters in Warwickshire and Kenilworth & Southam. Rural and semi-rural communities have seen evening and weekend services disappear, routes withdrawn with little notice, and connections between villages, towns, hospitals and rail stations steadily eroded. For many residents the result has been fewer opportunities and greater isolation.
Returning control means councils can once again ask basic, practical questions for you:
- Where do people need to travel?
- Which services support work, education and healthcare?
- How should buses connect with trains and other local transport?
The contrast with the opposition is clear. Conservatives created and defended the deregulated model that hollowed out local bus networks. Reform UK offers little beyond rhetoric about cutting regulation, which would only push services further towards the cliff edge, and we are already seeing their incompetence in Warwickshire. They are all whinge and no capability.
Labour is restoring competence, accountability and local decision-making to a service that underpins everyday life for working people. For Warwickshire, Kenilworth & Southam, it creates the opportunity to rebuild bus networks around people’s needs, not corporate convenience.
#28 Created an Armed Forces Commissioner
Recognising how badly our service personnel and veterans were supported by the Tories (whatever shade of blue), it was great to see this early Act to create an Armed Forces Commissioner: an independent, statutory champion for serving personnel, veterans and their families.
For years, too many service men and women have struggled with poor housing, weak complaints mechanisms, inconsistent welfare support, and a sense that when things go wrong, the system closes ranks rather than listens. The Armed Forces Commissioner is designed to change that culture.
In late January, ReformUK announced they would pardon service personnel convicted of war crimes linked to the Troubles. This is not support. It is a dangerous confusion of loyalty with impunity. It’s like something dreamt up by Donald Trump…oh…it was!
Professional armed forces do not need blanket pardons for serious crimes. They need proper leadership, clear rules, and institutions that defend both their people and the values they are sworn to protect.
At a time when global security is fragile and public trust in institutions is easily damaged, Labour’s is the grown-up approach. It backs the armed forces properly by making them stronger, and making treatment fairer and more professional.
Approved by King Charles in Sept 2025, the first Commissioner is being recruited. First ever independent Armed Forces Champion gets the ‘royal seal’ – GOV.UK