Sitting here a few hours after the final result was announced, the truly remarkable nature of yesterday’s election result is even clearer.
Theresa May wanted to strengthen her hand for Brexit negotiations – instead she is diminished in the eyes of the British people and watching world leaders. She has dragged the whole country through an election, only to leave herself and her party as damaged goods.
Few would have predicted that Theresa May would lose her majority when the campaign began. Yet from the outset, UNISON’s view has always been that if Labour shifted the debate onto public services it could strike a chord with the electorate, and Jeremy has done just that. Our union is proud to have played its part – and we’re proud of Jeremy, a UNISON member and former staff member, for the incredibly campaign he ran and manifesto he stood on.
Jeremy has also asked me to pass on his regards and his gratitude for all our union did in the campaign. He and I share the view that, by working closely together, we kept public services and our members’ jobs at the heart of the campaign.
I am proud of the role we played from our tireless work in key constituencies, our high profile advertising and social media campaigns, to the personalised emails and direct mail we were able to send to our members. It all made a big difference to the results across the country.
Jeremy Corbyn has inspired millions to vote for the first time and reinvigorated the fortunes of the Labour Party. I’m looking forward to continuing working with him and the Labour Party to stand up for public services.
I’m also looking forward to working with some of the Labour MPs – some re-elected, some newly elected – who have a special connection to our union. Friends like Daniel Zeichner, Melanie Onn, Mike Hill, Angela Rayner and Jo Stevens who have always been part of our union or close supporters of it.
But I want to pay particular credit to my friend Eleanor Smith, the first black female President of our union and Chair of Labour Link, who was elected overnight in Wolverhampton South West. I could not be more delighted for her, and for the constituents who will now have this remarkable nurse standing up for them in Parliament.
There’s obviously a huge amount for us – and these MPs – to do, but this result provides a platform to build, to provide hope to the British people and to begin bringing austerity to an end.