THE Labour Party was built by workers. It was born in unions and communities like mine in Salford that fought for justice, fairness and dignity when no-one else would. 

It was built to ensure that never again would working people be voiceless in the halls of power. Yet today, too many of those very people, in poll after poll, sadly express that they may start to look elsewhere. They are losing faith.

Take the recent decision to cut the Winter Fuel Allowance for millions of pensioners (now thankfully reversed), procrastinating over removing the cruel two-child cap on universal credit, which locks millions of children into poverty, or the proposal to scale back disability support, which would have pushed huge numbers of sick and disabled people into severe hardship. 

These measures were a complete contradiction to what most people believed to be Labour values. They shook people’s very understanding of who the Labour Party is.

No matter how polished the explanations about the dire financial inheritance left by the Tories were, nor how carefully announcements were stage-managed, the signal people sadly received was that when times get tough, the government was prepared to balance the books on the backs of the vulnerable rather than those with the broadest shoulders. 

As a result, genuinely transformative policies, such as comprehensive free childcare, rail nationalisation, and the groundbreaking Employment Rights Bill, were drowned out. The hope of real change gave way to disillusionment, which was exploited by those who wish to divide our communities.

Even party members and trade unionists — the people who built our movement — felt sidelined, while communities across the country felt treated as focus-group subjects rather than real partners in shaping policy. 

We must face these uncomfortable facts, and we must change them.

The first step is honesty. We must level with people about the scale of the crises we face — whether it is the NHS waiting lists, the cost of living emergency, or the climate crisis. Papering over the cracks with clever soundbites will not do. If the problems are systemic, our solutions must be systemic too.

Secondly, we need a programme of genuine economic justice to fund our public services. That means asking the very wealthy to pay more through wealth taxes, closing loopholes on capital gains, and ending handouts to polluters.

People will trust us when they see that we are unafraid to challenge vested interests, and when we make clear that working people and their services will not foot the bill for crises they did not cause.

Thirdly, we must roll out a comprehensive industrial strategy, making the communities abandoned by deindustrialisation the powerhouses of a new economy. This means not just investing in new and emerging technologies, but revitalising British manufacturing.

It means council housing and emergency pre-fabricated homes built on a scale not seen since the post-war years, with rent controls and secure tenancies so homes are a right, not a privilege.

It means bringing rail, mail, energy, and water back into public hands where they belong — because these are not luxuries, they are the building blocks of everyday life. And they should be run in the national interest, not for the profit of overseas shareholders.

Fourthly, we must rebuild the public realm. Trust grows when people see their hospitals, schools, buses, and council services improving in real time. That requires investment, and it requires courage.

People will not believe we stand for fairness if we allow families to languish on council housing waiting lists, pensioners to go cold in winter, or disabled people to be forced into poverty. But they will believe in us if we defend universal benefits, expand social housing at a rapid rate, and restore dignity to welfare.

Fifthly, we must give people a voice in their workplaces and communities. That means strengthening trade unions, devolving power to local councils, and involving citizens in decision-making. Trust is not built by handing down edicts from Westminster: It is built when people feel ownership over the decisions that shape their lives.

Ultimately, we need to speak once again with moral clarity. Labour should never be afraid to say whose side we are on. We are on the side of workers, renters, pensioners, disabled people, and the millions who make this country run.

We are not on the side of billionaires who dodge tax, or corporations that pollute, or landlords who exploit. People do not trust triangulation; they trust conviction. We must be clear: if you give us your vote, we will stand with you and fight for you. 

The decline in trust is serious, but it is not irreversible. People still want change, and they are wondering who they can trust. But we will not win that trust by moving closer to the Conservatives or Reform.

We will not win it by making cuts that punish the vulnerable. We will only win it by being true to our values: solidarity, equality, and justice. By being the party that speaks the truth, fights for the many, and delivers on its promises. 

That is how we rebuild trust. And that is how we build the fair, decent society that the British people both need and deserve.

Rebecca Long Bailey MP for Salford.