It is imperative that Government keeps its promises to pensioners. This week we supported emergency legalisation to help them do that even in these difficult times. The state pension is the foundation stone of a secure retirement. I told the House of Commons there must be no backtrack on the Triple Lock.

Many sectors are struggling with the ongoing economic impact of Covid, not just in Tameside but across the country, and I have to ask why ministers appear so relaxed about the scale of potential job losses, especially in the North and Midlands. I told Sky News immediate action must be taken so safeguards against reliving the unemployment nightmare of the 1980s and early 1990s are in place. Every job lost to Covid-19 is a personal tragedy – we mustn’t forget that. I told Talk Radio Labour want to help the Government get it right and save every possible job.

This week my research revealed that hundreds of thousands of people who lost their jobs due to Covid-19 have been rejected for Universal Credit or any other government help whatsoever. This Guardian story – based on my parliamentary questions holding the Government to account – starkly illustrates what I have been saying since the beginning of the crisis – there is a cohort of people getting very little from a social system they contributed to in expectation it would be there when they needed it. This cannot be right. I also discussed this with iNews.