On 12 December, millions of people voted against policies that would have improved their lives, and which they generally supported, because they didn’t trust us with their vote. That’s one hell of a wake-up call.

If we’re going to win back power, we need to convince people that the policies we’re offering aren’t just morally right but that they can and will be achieved.

While our vision for the world may seem bold in comparison with a status quo that has existed for far too long, we offer practical solutions to the challenges so many face in our daily lives. I believed in our manifesto. I believed in it because I came to the Labour party through real-life experiences. I was pregnant at 16, and needed a council house and social security to look after my son. My local Sure Start centre, one result of a flagship Labour policy, helped me get back into work and education. I joined a trade union and learned how to stand up for myself and the other low-paid women I worked alongside as a home help.

Investing in council housing makes simple economic sense

For me, investing in council housing makes simple economic sense. A proper social safety net for when you’re down on your luck just seems like a solid idea. When you’ve tried to care for elderly people in 15-minute visits while you’re struggling to pay your own bills, a fully funded care service that treats people with dignity isn’t radical – it’s basic human decency. I know that far too many people work too hard, for too long, for too little, and that politics has the power to change that. But those same people who need us most don’t believe that politicians get it. Sometimes I’ve wondered myself. That’s why I’m standing. Because I do get it, and I know how to show that Labour does, too.

I call my pitch “everyday socialism”: a transformative policy platform rooted in the day-to-day lives of people across our country and communicated in a commonsense way.

Every day our party and our movement can demonstrate in real ways how we change lives for the better. A socialism lived and enacted in the communities, the cities and the towns, and demonstrated in the everyday lives of those we need to win at the next election.

We need these policies – they go to the very heart of our purpose as a party – but our relationship with our voters can’t simply be transactional – “vote for us and you’ll get X, Y and Z” – if we are to truly rebuild Labour as a movement that achieves deep and lasting change.

We need to reconnect and rebuild trust as a matter of urgency to fight back against this Tory government’s cuts, privatisation and attacks on the most vulnerable. That goes for the whole country, from the so-called “Red Wall” to the inner-city communities sharing similar struggles; and in Scotland, Wales, the east and south-west – and as a party with more than half a million members, we have the people power to do that.

We have an abundance of talent – trainers and educators, social media experts, videographers, organisers and workplace reps, speechwriters and speech givers – and as deputy leader, I want to bring it all together in a Labour community that stands together to fight the other side, not each other.

There will be adversity in the years to come. Each and every cut will hurt, because we know we should be in power to stop it. But I’m a fighter. I’ve overcome many barriers to become an MP, let alone to be in this contest. I’ve taken on bad bosses and won. I’ve beaten the Tories in Westminster and stopped cuts, closures and privatisations.

If we use our collective strength to be active in communities – alongside an everyday socialist agenda – we will not only regain trust and win at the ballot box, we’ll do what we all joined Labour for in the first place: we’ll make a difference.

That’s what this is all about. Labour in power can and will change people’s lives for the better. It made a difference to my life. It gave me the power to speak for myself, the power to speak for others, and the power to give them a voice of their own. So if you put your faith in me, I will fight to make that difference – and I will fight to win.

• Angela Rayner is MP for Ashton-under-Lyne and shadow secretary for education