Re-elect John Healey as MP for Wentworth and Dearne in 2019

The Referendum in 2016 was a democratic vote, which demanded the result should be respected. It was also an instruction to the Government to act on this basis to negotiate the terms for Britain leaving. This was – and remains – the duty of Government, as only governments can negotiate Britain’s withdrawal from or acceptance of international treaties. Britain’s exit should have been done and dusted by now. But for more than three years, the Tories have failed to negotiate a good enough deal to command support in parliament or in public. So the country remains in deadlock and ever more deeply divided. Labour – in Opposition and with around 60 fewer MPs than the Tories – has consistently argued for a better Brexit deal than the terms the Tories have tried to agree, that gets us out of the EU but does not cut us off from Europe. This is also what I have argued for, both in public and in the Labour Party. I believe there is a good Brexit deal to be done in both UK and EU interests,

New research from the housing charity Shelter has found there will be 135,000 homeless children this Christmas, including 810 in Yorkshire and the Humber. This is shameful. Rising homelessness is a direct result of decisions made by the Tories over the last ten years in Government: slashing investment in new low-cost homes, refusing to help private renters and making huge cuts to housing benefit and homelessness services. The Conservatives' manifesto makes clear they have no plan to tackle the crisis of rising homelessness. A Labour Government will end rough sleeping within five years and fix the root causes of rising homelessness with the biggest council and social housing programme since the 1960s, stronger rights for renters and extra funding for homelessness services.