Dear Keir Starmer, I’m a single mum and NHS worker. Please don’t make me regret voting for you

Dear Keir Starmer,

Today, you stand before us as our prime minister. This only happened due to people like me voting for you. That means that this change – that you promise will come – is due to us and the choices we have all made as voters in choosing you.

We as voters made this change happen. Please remember that. I have lived in this country for 15 years. During that time, I have seen governments who have promised a lot and then broken these promises. In this election, I voted for you as I want to see a positive change. I chose to put trust in your manifesto and words.

As you stand there today, remember you are there and should be there for us, the British people, and for all of us. It is vital that you hear our voices and act on them. You have promised the changes will start from today. They really must.

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I speak with the voices of many, as a single mother, and a keyworker in the NHS. As someone who works hard, both as a mother and employee. As someone who struggles every day to get by. I want to have a government, at last, that supports us and is on our side. Not against us

I want my child to thrive and not to be stuck in poverty, by a social security system that is inadequate and seems designed to make us suffer. I want to be able to tell my son that tomorrow will be better than today, and that change is really coming. Improvements at work, better child care, and social security that invests in all of us, as part of a better future.  

I want my son to be a proud British citizen. He deserves to fulfil all of his dreams. My son is an intelligent boy and he deserves a good future. He does not deserve to suffer in poverty as he currently does. I want him to feel pride in our prime minister and I want him to believe that I voted for the right government.

Hear the voices of us and work for us. For all of us facing life on low income, desperate for change. We are the people who need a positive change, more than anyone. Please be that change, and do not be yet another government that promises a lot and then breaks those promises one by one.

You said in your speech that your work is urgent. I agree. And I just hope you can realise what you said, in promising a brighter future for us and our children. Starmer, do not forget your manifesto. You are in Number 10 for us. Please don’t make us regret that we voted for you. We all need you to be there for us and support us. We need change, and we need hope.

Tayyaba takes part in Changing Realities, a collaboration between parents and carers on a low-income, researchers at the universities of York and Salford and Child Poverty Action Group. 

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