Hands up all those who want a Labour government? Good. It’s you I’m talking to.

I recently joined Labour members, MPs, councillors, trade union members, and people from all over our party in visiting Corby to help Andy Sawford in the by-election he’s fighting.

Andy is a lovely guy. And at one point in the afternoon he turned to me with a big smile and said, ‘Can I have my picture taken with the MP for the constituency where Labour last won a by-election from the Tories?’ I thought for a second before I realised: that’s me.

I was 16 in February 1997 when Wirral South elected its first Labour member of parliament in the last by-election before May 1997

I grew up living in a Tory constituency watching my dad struggle with cancer and waiting for treatment for too long, and my Mum struggle (successfully) to set up a pre-school because there was nowhere for my little brother and his friends to go. By the time I was 16, I was fed up of the government. The Tories were an incompetent shambles, and I desperately wanted Labour to win.

Not just because Ben Chapman (our soon-to-be MP) seemed like a nice guy, and there were dedicated Labour campaigners everywhere telling us what was at stake. I knew that the economy in Merseyside was only just beginning to pick up. I could see the risk of more redundancies, and all my friends and I having to leave our home town in the future for work. I needed hope.

The Wirral South by-election victory in 1997 – the last staging post on the way to government – gave us that hope. It meant that Labour was winning the argument, not only in its so-called strongholds but all over. This article could extent to thousands of words if I described all of the good things that happened in the UK (and around the world) because of that government, and because Ben was our MP.

So, when I visited Corby, I noticed some similarities to my home town. The people are very friendly and welcoming, like the Wirral. And Corby might be somewhat south of Wirral, but the people there have got pretty similar worries. One lady stopped us to ask us if we could help get the lights in her street fixed. And then she added with a worried look, ‘And jobs. That’s what I’m really worried about. Jobs.’ And pointing to the man next to her, ‘He’s just lost his.’

People need hope now. It doesn’t matter if you live in Aberdeen or Plymouth, Bangor or Norwich. Or Wirral or Corby. Ed Miliband’s One Nation is the hope we need. Andy winning in Corby and East Northamptonshire could be just the beacon of hope required. It could show us the way to a Labour government.

The alternative is the current mess we are in: where Tory ministers sign off a tax cut for millionaires, whilst forgetting to make sure the work programme actually works. And where David Cameron trumpets statistics without noticing people are working two or three jobs to make ends meet, and rising long-term unemployment means some left behind altogether.

Ed’s vision is the one we need. No one left behind. Everyone included. No 16-year-olds in Wirral or Corby worrying that if they stick around in the place they love, they’ll never get a job.

So. Without further ado. Today. Now, even. Do what I did and get your diary out. Ring Andy’s campaign HQ. They’re on 01536 202133, and they are very friendly. Book yourself in for some campaigning.

You can be a part of giving people hope.

Please.

—————————————————————————————

Alison McGovern is MP for Wirral South. She tweets @alison_mcgovern

—————————————————————————————

Photo: yourdoku