Winston Churchill once said, “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
That is exactly what Labour has done over local government reform. We have listened to the students and their families in Glossop who go to college in Greater Manchester, the commuters in New Mills who want better transport links, the older people in Buxton whose Derbyshire identity is what matters most to them and the people in Hope Valley who look to Sheffield for things like jobs and healthcare.
Having listened we have stood up this week for our communities by bringing forward proposals designed to meet these differing priorities. Labour led High Peak Borough Council have agreed to submit a proposal for a North Derbyshire council and Labour’s East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward has called for a summit with the Mayors of Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire to see up a Peak Partnership.
Sitting in the middle of where three regions converge presents huge opportunities for us. But what should be our greatest asset has, in reality, often meant we have lost out and been overlooked. I am hopeful as both of these proposals are developed over the coming months they will help us to address the unique and varied economic and public service needs of all of our communities, including the Hope Valley line, Snake Pass, the Bee Network and better and fairer access to Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire hospitals and further education.
Labour’s approach could not be in starker contrast to Derbyshire Conservatives, who did not listen and rushed to submit their proposal within hours of the announcement for a single council covering all 800,000 residents of Derbyshire. They did not consider High Peak’s very unique interests. They acted in their own very narrow political interests. They even tried to get the local elections in May cancelled to avoid scrutiny of their shameful record of running Derbyshire County Council into the ground.
The Conservatives are now in disarray, with every part of Derbyshire rejecting their proposal. And internal divisions are now breaking out into the open with High Peak Conservative councillors voting in favour of Labour’s North Derbyshire proposal – openly opposing their own party’s plan for a county-wide council.
I am hopeful that between the proposal for a North Derbyshire Unitary Council and the Peak Partnership of the three Labour mayors, we have the building blocks to make life better for all of us in High Peak with more integrated transport, jobs and investment and improved access to healthcare and education.
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Watching my father disappear into Alzheimer’s is something my family will never forget. It is a story that, sadly, will feel painfully familiar to so many families across High Peak.
People often say that with Alzheimer’s and dementia you lose the person twice. First, as the illness slowly robs them of the person they once were, and then again when their body finally gives up after a long and cruel battle.
As heartbreaking as that is, it is often accompanied by another burden: the constant worry about how to provide the care they need, and how that care will be paid for.
For decades, social care has been the problem every politician acknowledges but no government has truly solved. Almost everyone agrees the system is broken. Yet whenever serious reform is proposed, the debate quickly descends into scare stories, political point-scoring and accusations of “death taxes”, leaving families exactly where they started.
That has to change.
Last week, Andy Burnham said he was prepared to spend political capital on fixing social care and to work with other political parties to build the consensus needed to make lasting reform possible.
I know this is deeply personal for Andy. His own father is living with Alzheimer’s. But long before that, as Health Secretary, he argued that social care should be valued alongside healthcare as an essential part of the system, not treated as an afterthought.
For too long, social care has been the forgotten partner of the NHS.
When we think about our health service, we rightly picture doctors, nurses and hospitals. But social care is every bit as vital. It helps older people remain independent, supports disabled adults to live fulfilling lives, gives families reassurance, and frees up hospital beds by helping people return home safely when they are ready.
When social care fails, the NHS feels the consequences. Hospital beds stay occupied, ambulance queues grow longer, families are left exhausted, and vulnerable people do not receive the support they deserve.
Years of underinvestment have left providers struggling to survive, care workers undervalued despite the extraordinary job they do, and families facing impossible choices at the most difficult moments of their lives.
Getting social care right is not simply about one public service. It is about making our entire health and care system work better.
Andy has instructed that the review of social care should report much sooner, with conclusions expected by this time next year. That gives us a real opportunity to have the honest, grown-up conversation the country has avoided for far too long.
As your MP, I will work with anyone - whatever their political party - who is serious about delivering the lasting reforms families deserve.
My father’s journey with Alzheimer’s will stay with me forever. It reinforced something I have always believed: every one of us deserves to grow old with dignity. Every family deserves the confidence that, when the time comes, good care will be there without fear, uncertainty or impossible financial decisions.
We’ve talked about fixing social care for long enough. It’s time we finally did it.
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