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The growing disconnect between the Labour Party and our heartlands was brought into devastating focus this week.

People in communities like mine have been trying to tell us that things aren’t working and they’ve been trying to tell us for a long time.

On Thursday night, those voters delivered that message across the country.

They couldn’t have been clearer and, for the thousands of Labour activists who slogged away in the rain and cold for a fairer society, it landed in a very painful way.

It would be easy to lay the blame for this disastrous loss at the feet of a single man or a single issue.

But this was our fourth loss in a decade. We have to listen to what people are telling us.

For too long, communities like mine have been denied the power to protect the things they care about.

The result has been a growing sense that the politicians simply can’t – or won’t – understand their lives.

Labour wins when we are rooted in our communities and work to deliver on their priorities.

We have to become this again and bring Labour home to the people who need us.