We need to make sure that the cost of living is proportionate, not punishing. Because when people work hard, they should be able to build a life with security, dignity and have breathing room for luxuries.

Right now, too many people feel like they’re doing everything right and still falling behind. When every shop visit means checking prices twice. When beans on toast becomes the default dinner, not out of choice, but necessity. When people are quietly skipping meals or visiting food banks just to make ends meet. That’s not just hard it can feel humiliating. And no one should have to live like that in a country like ours.

I believe in a society where work genuinely pays not just in a monthly payslip, but in the life it allows you to lead. Fair wages, affordable essentials, and public services that support you, that’s not asking for luxury, that’s asking for fairness. It’s about recognising that people want to contribute to their families, their communities, and their future but they can’t do that if they’re constantly treading water.

The previous Conservative government didn’t turn away when people were struggling. We stepped in:

• With the Energy Price Guarantee, to stop bills becoming unmanageable.

• With £400 off every household’s energy bill, easing the winter pressure.

• With cost of living payments for those on the lowest incomes, pensioners and disabled people.

• With benefits and pensions uprated in line with inflation, protecting those with least room to manoeuvre.

• By freezing fuel duty and cutting it by 5p per litre.

• By giving local councils a Household Support Fund to help families with nowhere else to turn.

• And by supporting mortgage holders with the Mortgage Charter, to stop a rate rise turning into a crisis.

They didn’t fix everything but they showed they were understanding the struggles.

That’s what matters to me. Understanding what life feels like when the margins are tight, when you’re doing your best and still not getting ahead.

If we want people to believe in work, in fairness, in a better future we have to make sure the basic cost of living reflects the reality of people’s lives. Because there’s nothing motivating about surviving.