IT IS 2019, brothers and sisters, and there are 14 million people in poverty. There are 1.5 million destitute. Most people are poorer now in real terms than they were 10 years ago.

All over the UK people are living with some kind of fear — fear of the banks, fear of the government, fear for their very future. 

Globally the UN predicts that there will be 200 million climate refugees by 2050 — so don’t you tell me that this system is working for our people. 

And in the face of such bleak conditions for working-class people, our next prime minister has been chosen by 0.25 per cent of the population — a tiny, privileged minority of the country. 

And the best, the very best they’ve come up with is Boris Johnson! Not only did this government hold onto power through buying the votes of the DUP, they are now proceeding on a new much more right-wing political direction without the consent of the people. 

So I want to be clear: the new Prime Minister does not have a mandate of the people. Johnson epitomises in my view every single thing that is wrong with our society: unaccountable power, unfettered wealth and selfishness. 

He is cold in his calculation about how to achieve power, rather than being driven by conviction and the interests of the people. And if we think things are bad now — and they are, we know that they are in communities up and down the country — then they are set to get much worse. 

But you know what? It does not have to be like this. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, is a man of peace, an anti-racism activist. He is committed to justice for working-class people and together we have a radical agenda for true change. 

But still there are large parts of the media that will obscure this and political opponents who are intent on sabotage based on falsehoods rather than honestly taking on the arguments. And you know why they don’t take on the arguments? 

Well, it’s because they have nothing to offer. Conservatism, the status quo and centrism are dead political concepts. They know that, and so fundamentally sabotage us because they fear the power of you. 

I just want to say one more thing, and this is important, the only way out of this mess is alongside each other. The only political solution we have is each other.

You here, my constituents, the amazing members of the Labour Party up and down this country, the anti-fascist demonstrators, the anti-war protesters, the climate change campaigners and all the people who know deep in their hearts that this system is broken: they aren’t the problem, they are the answer. 

The system is broken and we are prepared to see a new world. So sisters and brothers, all of you that have fought battles over and over again to get us to this point and those of you who are new to this movement, they are scared of all of you. They are scared that this is our time. Let us prove them right.

Laura Pidcock is MP for North West Durham and shadow minister for labour.