I want to send my solidarity to all of the workers in our city who have been forced to take strike action – workers in the UCU, workers in the CWU, workers at the NEU – but also Sheffield’s nurses, who have voted to strike for the first time in history, firefighters, civil servants, delivery drivers, and so many more.

I was proud to stand with UCU workers last week at the picket at Jessop West and I am sorry not to be able to stand with you all today.

I am in Westminster – where the Government is bringing forward its Finance Bill – a set of measures which will usher in austerity 2.0; deliver the biggest drop in household disposable incomes on record; cut already stretched departmental spending and lift the cap on bankers’ bonuses.

All the while it will do nothing to address the problems in the real economy, problems people here today are facing: a decade of falling wages, skyrocketing living costs and rising insecurity and casualisation.

The Tories keep talking about the misery that strikes are going to cause this winter. But you know what is more miserable? Workers unable to heat their homes, because energy costs have risen whilst pay has crumbled. Parents skipping meals to feed their children, because their hours have been cut.

Any misery felt this Christmas won’t be the fault of striking workers, it will be the fault of this Tory government.

It is against this backdrop that we saw more workers out on strike between July and September this year, than in the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 combined. When the Government has failed for 12 years to address the real problems people are facing – workers in our city and across the country are taking matters into their own hands, and rightly so.

So I am proud to stand with each and every one of you and I will continue to do so until we win – which we will. See you on the picket line!