Last week, the Office for National Statistics confirmed what voters in North West Essex already knew: that Rishi Sunak has failed to deliver his key promise of growth and instead plunged the country into recession. This means job losses and less investment in public services, with less money for the council and other public services.

This is a triple whammy for our local communities. Fewer jobs as a result of economic mismanagement, higher mortgage costs after Liz Truss’s disastrous budget, and average family finances run down so much that one in three households now have less than £1,000 in savings.

North West Essex’s absentee MP Kemi Badenoch runs what she herself refers to as ‘the department for economic growth’, putting her at the heart of Sunak’s failure to deliver for our communities.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell by 0.3% in the last quarter, and the interest rate set by the Bank of England remains high at 5.25%. Hundreds of people across our districts will end up paying as much as £240 a month more as their mortgages come to an end, while food prices have increased by 25% over the past two years.

Inflation remains at 4% which, although an improvement on the high of 11% in October 2022, has done little to put more money in people’s pockets or boost their confidence in the ability of this Conservative government to grow the economy, whatever our local MP and former Treasury minister Kemi Badenoch tries to claim.

Jane Berney, local Labour spokesperson on the economy, said: “The big question people should ask themselves ahead of the general election is simple: do you and your family feel better off after 14 years under the Tories? Successive by-election victories for Labour with ever-larger swings makes clear that people want real change.”

“The Tories cannot fight the next general election on the economy; what used to be their strength is now their weakness. A future Labour government will face hard choices to restore economic stability, with plans to develop a national wealth fund and jointly invest with the private sector to drive growth.”

Moreover, our local MP Kemi Badenoch has failed in her ministerial role yet again. Net trade dropped significantly into negative figures last quarter under her watch as the Government’s Business and Trade Secretary. The UK’s economic output has fallen short of that of similar countries by about 5% since the Brexit referendum.