It’s natural for people to have different opinions and different ideas, but the Brexit referendum split our communities in Calder Valley down the middle as, perhaps, never before. Meet ten people at random in our ward and on average six will have voted to remain and four to leave.

Bringing the country back together after the referendum was never going to be easy, but the government’s tactics since then have made things so much worse. People seem to be angrier than ever, and less and less happy with politics.

Each summer across Calderdale, people put themselves forward for public office as Labour councillors because they believe that strong local democracy is vital to our future. The same applies nationally too. Labour, with its belief in fairness and stronger communities, can turn the country around. It will take time to patch up the wounds of the past few years – but, yes, we believe it can be done.