When I talk to young people about work, the same thing keeps coming up. Not a lack of ambition - a lack of a way in. One million young people in this country are not in education, work or training. That's around one in eight. And six in ten of them have never had a job at all. I know that these young people aren't lazy. They have been let down by a system that told them there was only one route to success, and then left them without the opportunities to get their foot in the door anywhere else. Too often, work experience has depended on who you know, rather than what you can do. Last month we changed the education system so that from 14, young people can access proper technical education, with real skills, real work experience and real links to employers where they live. Now we're bringing employers, schools and colleges together to close the gap between the classroom and the workplace. The youth unemployment crisis has been ignored for too long. That ends now.

I am proud and humbled to have been selected as Labour’s candidate for Makerfield. These proud working-class communities represent the very best values of our country and they deserve so much better. It would be my honour to work for them every day, if elected as their MP, to achieve that. Many people here feel Westminster isn’t working for them and they are right. I am standing to change that and get the voice of these communities heard loud and clear. I am glad that this by-election has finally put the places that make up the Makerfield constituency into the national spotlight. They have been neglected by national politics for too long. It is a good thing that all political parties are now on the hook to tell the voters here what they are going to do for them. More than anything, people need life to be more affordable again. As Mayor, I have brought in changes which are helping, such as the £2 fare cap, free bus travel for our 16-18 year-olds and removing the 9.30am restriction from older and disabled people’s bus passes. But there is only so much I can do from Greater Manchester. If elected, I will have a relentless focus on reducing people’s everyday costs and bills and well as securing the investment these communities need. I have been an elected representative in Greater Manchester for 25 years. Throughout that time, I have fought for the people of the North West of England on so many fronts. I am now ready to bring the whole weight of that experience to fighting for the communities of the Makerfield constituency and would be privileged to be given that opportunity.

Politics isn’t working for places like ours. I will change that. #AndyBurnham #ForUs

Tomorrow we lift the 9.30am restriction on bus passes, letting older and disabled people travel whenever they want. It was good to thank the GM Older and Disabled People’s Panels for pushing for it. A positive change powered by the people - exactly how politics should work! 🙌🏻