I saw first hand what Tories did to kids of my generation

Like most people, my politics were shaped by my upbringing. I grew up in the 1980s and 1990s under Margaret Thatcher and John Major's governments. I saw first-hand the impact of underinvestment in our country's state schools.

- RACHEL REEVES

My sixth form was housed in a couple of prefab huts in the playground. The library, meant to be a sanctuary of learning, was turned into a classroom simply because there were more students than space. I felt then, as I do now, that successive Conservative governments did not care about schools like mine, communities like mine, or the kids I grew up with.

That sense of injustice is why I joined the Labour Party. I wanted to do something about it. I want to tackle some of the burning injustices within our society. I wanted to give every child, whatever their background, the same opportunities to thrive.