Acceptance
Acceptance speeches following the 2024 general election from Rotherham's three MPs: John Healey, Jake Richards and Sarah Champion
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NewsTranscript
00:00We've had a great result for us in the Royal Martian Conisburgh constituency and thank you to all those voters that have given me their laughing today.
00:23Their votes are part of a massive movement. People across the UK today have voted for change and they voted for Labour.
00:34And the hard work starts later today in the constituency and in government.
00:43And we know trust in government must be regained. We know that belief that Britain can be better must be renewed.
00:55So we will be a government for all, not just a few. We will work to bring people together, not to divide them.
01:04And we will prove that politicians are not all the same.
01:12Thank you to Alexander Stafford, my predecessor now as MP in Rother Valley. We may disagree on an awful lot but I never doubt that he worked incredibly hard and he believed in the cause that he fought for and he deserves great credit for that.
01:29I would also most importantly like to thank the voters of Rother Valley.
01:34I've had thousands of conversations with people over the course of this campaign and to all those who supported me and those who did not, I thank you for taking the time to talk.
01:45Each of those conversations are so important and it is the privilege of my life to serve you as your MP and I do so in the spirit of service.
01:57I hope to bring people together for the common good and I will represent our interests in Parliament and beyond.
02:04Tonight, the country has chosen change after 40 years of Tory government.
02:10As your MP, I will support a Labour government that is relentlessly focused on your priorities.
02:16Economic security, safer streets, getting the NHS back on its feet, secure borders and better opportunities for our children.
02:25I'm not here to bring Rotherham home but to bring the three constituencies home.
02:28We are hugely, hugely grateful and honoured for every day, every doorstep, every telephone call that you made because this matters.
02:39And let me show you why this matters.
02:41This is what motivated me.
02:43We're not having this in our town.
02:46We're not having this in our town and you've made sure that that's not going to happen.
02:52But I'm not taking your trust that you have put in the Labour Party as a given.
02:59It's something that we work for.
03:02And so I accept this with humility on behalf of the Labour Party and I will make sure that we earn your votes next time
03:12because people have given them in trust this time that we do the right thing and we will do the right thing for areas like Rotherham.
03:19But it's bigger than Rotherham.
03:22Because around the world now, 5.8 billion people do not live under a democracy.
03:30And democracies matter and people on the doors are indifferent sometimes and their vote matters.
03:38It matters if you have the right to speak out, if you have the right to love the person that you want to.
03:45And I will do everything I can to keep democracy in this country.
03:49And I know that you will as well.
03:52Thank you so much for everybody on the Rotherham Council team that worked so hard to make this a fair democratic process.
04:01Oh my life, we've done it. We've done it.