Labour promised change for Britain. We are running out of time to deliver it | Angela Rayner

A speech delivered last night by Labour’s former deputy prime minister has intensified the debate about the party’s future

When the British people voted for us, they voted for change and against a government that did not stand up for their interests. They were disillusioned by a system that is rigged against them, which they want us to transform. The Labour party is at its best when we are bold, when we stand for and stand by our values, and show we are delivering on them. We should make clear that our driving mission is to represent working people. When vested interests stand in the way, we should not shy away from a fight. We should take them on, head on.

We did it with the employment rights bill. For millions of workers, after decades of low pay and insecurity, we chose stronger rights and security. We did it with the Renters’ Rights Act. For the renters who lived in fear that they could lose their home in an instant, we chose to ban no-fault evictions and stop outrageous rent hikes.

And with a little bit of gentle prompting, we did the same with the draft leasehold and commonhold bill. For the leaseholders facing extortionate service charges and runaway ground rent rises, we chose to cap ground rents and crack down on rip-off charges.

But let’s be honest. To the public, we have left the impression that we defended the status quo rather than challenged it, and that we represented the establishment, not working people. At worst, we became it.

For a start, we should show the whole country that we’re proud of – not embarrassed by – Labour achievements that reflect our Labour values. That we are driven to do the right thing, not dragged to it. But that is nowhere near enough to show we can deliver the change we promised. We have to pick the next battles and fight them with everything we’ve got. Show people we can take on the rigged system and beat it.

The cost of living emergency is the issue of our time. It is a crisis not months, but years in the making. For more than two decades, living standards have been crushed. The ambitions of millions of working people have been shafted by a system that does not work for them. It’s our job to show the British people whose side we are on.

Like that of other social democratic parties across the west, the very survival of the Labour party is at stake. It is that serious, because political parties have no right to exist. It is on all of us to show why Britain needs a Labour party.

I firmly believe that a rightwing populist government is not inevitable. In Canada, Australia and Norway, centre-left parties surged back to win again. They showed they would tackle the issues that mattered most to people, and voters decided that a progressive government that puts people first and lowers costs for ordinary people was the better choice. And people saw the cost of rightwing populism – of unaffordable tax cuts for the super-rich, public healthcare at risk and wages held down.

We too need a renewed, relentless focus on tackling the cost of living crisis. Bringing down the price of your food, your energy, your water, not allowing you to be ripped off. Giving you more childcare hours, building more homes and more council housing, cutting the cost of your commute, supporting your high street, putting money in your pocket and boosting your wages. These are not luxuries but essentials based on fairness – part of the social contract. The foundations of a good life.

This is why we got into politics, because it has the power to change lives. I know, because it changed my own.

Government intervention broke that chain of generational poverty. That’s the value of an economy that cares about the collective, and knows that’s how individuals succeed. An active state that works in partnership with a dynamic private sector.

I’ve spoken with businesses in my own constituency and up and down the country about the challenges they face. These are not faceless corporations. They are people taking risks, employing locally, investing in their communities. Businesses need to believe they will be treated fairly, that the rules won’t shift without warning and that longstanding structural issues will finally be addressed, not deferred yet again.

This is why I started the work to devolve New York-style licensing powers to the mayor of London to revitalise the Oxford Street and Soho area and support the nation’s biggest high street and London’s buzzing nightlife district. Devolving power brings it closer to local people and business, and gives us joined-up solutions to complicated problems – I think about how Andy Burnham has joined up transport and policing at night in Manchester to help our night-time economy too.

Because changing our constitution, including politics itself, is another fight we were prepared to take on, and must now be prepared to win. Votes at 16 should just be a start; we must be brave enough to shake up the Westminster system too, devolve further and put power back in local communities’ hands. That’s what Labour in government has always been about.

The British public expect that if they work hard and pay their taxes they should have the tools to get on in life. But people feel like the system isn’t working for them, it’s not serving them, and there’s someone else jumping the queue or cheating the system. If we do not have an answer to that, rightwing populists will offer theirs. So we have to show that we can make the system work for working people: a system based on rules and fairness, with a state that enforces them.

But enforcing a fair deal is not the same as ripping up a deal halfway through. Many people came here to Britain on the understanding that if they worked in the sectors where we needed them, obeyed the law and paid their taxes, they could stay. If we suddenly change that, it pulls the rug from under those who have planned their lives and commitments and are contributing to our economy and to our society. That would be not just bad policy but a breach of trust.

The people already in the system – who made a huge investment – now fear for their future. They do not have stability and do not know what will happen. We cannot talk about earning a settlement if we keep moving the goalposts, because moving the goalposts undermines our sense of fair play. It’s un-British.

Let us be a country that has sustainable economic migration rules, but one that upholds the British values we want all who live here to respect. Not special treatment, but stability and a fair pathway forward after the sacrifices many have made to build a lawful life in the UK.

I believe in a country where we keep our word and live up to our values, and I believe the British people agree. That is important because we now face political opponents who construct lies, pit people against one another for political gain and stoke fear through blame. Our very flags are twisted into symbols of division, not the unity our values embody. This rhetoric isn’t just false, it’s deeply dangerous.

And we know why they want it to be the national conversation: because when it comes to our economy, they have no answers. They have promises, but no plans for change or for fairness. They will agree the system is rigged, but they are on the side of those who rigged it. It is why when I took on bad bosses, rogue landlords and greedy freeholders, Reform stood with the Tories and vested interests on the other side. That is what we must now show the country – that Reform is not on their side.

But we can only do that by proving that we are. It is down to us to rebuild this nation and this party. The question is: are we up for this fight?

As a party, and as a movement, we cannot hide, we cannot just go through the motions in the face of decline. There’s no safe ground and we’re running out of time. The change that people wanted so desperately needs to be seen, it needs to be felt. And we have to show that it is a Labour government that will deliver it.

• Angela Rayner is the Labour MP for Ashton-under-Lyne. She spoke at the spring reception of the campaign group Mainstream