00:00I hereby declare that Rachel Reeves is duly elected as the Member of Parliament for the
00:06Leeds West and Pwtsey constituency.
00:11Thank you, it is a huge honour and a privilege to have been returned as the Labour Member
00:28of Parliament for Leeds West and Pwtsey.
00:30Let me begin by thanking the returning officer, the counting agents, the polling clerks and
00:39the police who make elections possible.
00:41Let me also thank the other candidates in this contest for the campaigns that they
00:46have run.
00:47I want to thank my team, all our Labour councillors and everyone who has volunteered in Armley,
00:54Bramley, Calverley, Farsley and Pwtsey.
00:58I could never list all of those whose support and friendship I have been so grateful for
01:04these last 14 years or more.
01:07But special thanks must go to my election agent, Joe Fiddes, and also to my predecessor
01:18John Battle, whose support and generosity has been invaluable for so many years.
01:26A word too for somebody who isn't with us today.
01:29Jane Hill, who ran my constituency office for the best part of the last decade, was
01:35a great friend to so many of us.
01:37She was Labour through and through, but she died a few weeks before the election took
01:42place.
01:43Many of us will miss her this evening, including me.
01:46But thanks above all goes to the people of Leeds West and Pwtsey.
01:50I have been so proud to represent Armley and Bramley for the last 14 years and I will do
01:56everything in my power to repay your support.
01:59And to the people of Calverley and Farsley and Pwtsey, who have returned a Labour Member
02:04of Parliament for the first time in more than 14 years, you have put your trust in me and
02:10I will not let you down.
02:12My job now is to speak for the whole constituency, those who voted for me and those who didn't,
02:18and I promise I will do just that.
02:21I will fight for you every day, to deliver the change that people in Leeds West and Pwtsey
02:26need and deserve.
02:30I do not want to pre-empt the results that are still to come, but if what we have seen
02:36so far holds out, then it is clear that the British people have voted for change.
02:43That in the coming hours, after 14 years, people will wake up to the prospect of a new
02:49government.
02:50The first Labour victory in nearly two decades.
02:55A page turned.
02:57A new chapter started.
02:59A chance to look ahead to a brighter future that seemed so remote for so long.
03:06You have put your trust in Labour.
03:09Thanks to Keir Starmer's leadership, a changed Labour Party in the service of ordinary working
03:14people.
03:15We have promised to end the chaos, to turn the page and to get to work on rebuilding
03:21our country.
03:22And we will do so.
03:24We have sought the opportunity to govern not for self-interest, but to serve in the national
03:30interest.
03:31To tackle the cost of living crisis and make work pay.
03:34To rebuild our health service and our schools.
03:36To drive growth in every part of our great country and to restore the stability that
03:41Britain has sorely lacked for too long.
03:44But I know that the road ahead will not be easy.
03:48There are no quick fixes and the hard choices lie ahead.
03:53We are under no illusions about the scale of the challenge that we face, or about the
03:58severity of the challenges that we will inherit from the Conservatives.
04:03It will come with a great weight of responsibility.
04:08I embrace it.
04:10It will demand hard work and harder choices.
04:13I am ready for them.
04:15And to those of you who have put your trust in us, we will not squander that trust.
04:21We have set out the first steps that we will take towards that better Britain and the missions
04:26to pin a decade of national renewal.
04:28There is much to do.
04:30We have campaigned as we mean to go on.
04:33As a government of unity, not of division.
04:35A government of wealth creation and a government in the national interest.
04:40Country first, party second.
04:43That is our promise to Britain.
04:45That is my promise to the people of Leeds West and Pudsey.
04:49We will not let you down.
04:51I will not let you down.
04:54And I can't wait to get started.
04:56Thank you very much.
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