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In the past year the richest 1000 UK people have increased their wealth by a massive £66 billion, while the average household debt stands at a record £15,400.

This demands we change the economy’s rules and claim a better future for the many, not the few. Another world really could be possible.

But we are stuck. I feel it and I speak to people right across our country, who feel it too. We're stuck in the mess the government has made of Brexit. It is dragging our communities down, whether they voted leave or remain, and driving deep division.

It’s time we raised our sights from this false divide and moved beyond Brexit to deal with the real pressures facing people.

Over a million elderly people are not getting the care they deserve. Take home pay has barely risen since the financial crisis and household debt is growing six times faster than wages.

(Image: Getty)

We are experiencing a surge of violent crime on our streets, with fatal stabbings at their highest levels since records began. Our schools are sending begging letters to parents and even closing early on Fridays because they can’t afford staff and supplies.

Last month, thousands of school children demonstrating in towns and cities across our country and biblical scenes of wildfires in England, Wales and Scotland on the hottest February day on record should have shamed us all into immediate and radical action on climate change. Instead, the issue barely registers in Westminster.

Getting Brexit right is vital but it can’t block out everything else. That’s why I am holding meetings with business groups, trade unions and senior MPs from across Parliament to try to deliver a majority in the House of Commons for a close economic relationship with the EU, so we can move beyond Brexit.

On Tuesday, I met the five biggest organisations that represent Britain’s businesses, large and small. They want what Labour wants, the uncertainty to end and a sensible deal to be struck.

(Image: Philip Coburn)

Yesterday, I saw senior Labour and Conservative MPs to discuss a close economic relationship with the EU, which would help protect jobs like those of the Honda workers in Swindon, some of whom I also met.

I left both meetings more certain than ever that we can find a way to work across parliament to force the government to back a sensible Brexit plan that protects jobs and more determined to achieve it.

I will continue to reach out to get a decent Brexit deal so our country can spend more time talking about our children’s future than a customs union.

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Labour respects the result of the referendum and a close economic relationship is the best Brexit compromise for both 17 million leave voters and 16 million remain voters. But we can’t accept a damaging Tory Brexit or a no deal outcome, so we also support preparing for a public vote in case parliament is not able to achieve a sensible Brexit.

We will do whatever we can to find a solution that can unite the country so, together, we can face down the real challenges and seize the opportunities in this moment of great change.