'Cost-of-living help beginning to show'

NOT long before Christmas, I was talking with a young dad in Kidsgrove about how stretched family life has felt over the past few years.

- David Williams - MP for Stoke-on-Trent North

ALL CHANGE: David Williams has pointed to £70m bus service funding.

He and his wife are working hard and doing everything right, yet for a long time it seemed as though the system was making life harder, not easier.

Against a backdrop of high mortgage rates and soaring energy bills, caused by a decade of Conservative failure, they have felt as though they were running to stand still. What stayed with me was not frustration but a quiet sense of relief - relief that things are finally starting to move in the right direction.

That feeling is one I hear often across Stoke-on-Trent North and Kidsgrove.

People here are resilient, hardworking and proud of where they come from.

They do not expect quick fixes or grand promises. What they want is fairness.

To know that effort counts and that life becomes a little easier to manage. That is exactly what this Labour government is focused on delivering.

As we move through 2026, those changes are beginning to show in everyday life through practical improvements that make a real difference to families.