I awoke at 5am last Friday to discover that the Labour party had won a landslide in the General Election, and that many high profile Conservatives had lost their seats.

Given the unshifting polls over the past two years, I was somewhat expecting a Labour win, but certainly not on such a scale.

I have never voted Conservative, and can count on the fingers of one thumb the times I have voted Labour. I am a dyed in the (organic) wool Green Party supporter.

However, when I listened carefully to Sir Keir Starmer's speech in Downing Street after he had been to Buckingham Palace I was, it has to be said, very emotional.

Although I have deep scepticism of politics and politicians, borne from the shocking state that the country is now in after fourteen years of Conservative rule, I heard the new prime minister's meaningful, dignified words and had a tiny crumb of hope that our once great United Kingdom would be able to rise from its knees and become, again, a country in which I could be proud to live.

Over the last few years, I have felt profoundly embarrassed and ashamed at being a UK citizen. In certain areas, we must quite frankly have become a laughing stock.

Amongst a huge multiplicity of other shocking infrastructure failures in the UK, anyone reading this who has driven on the European continent would know, for example, that the roads in much of Europe are immaculate compared to our pothole-filled byways and highways.

And that's before we even begin to talk about our NHS, the sewage in our rivers, the decimation of our Armed Forces, and goodness knows what else.

I hope with all of my heart that the Labour Party can steer this country in the right direction again, and help its citizens feel as if their lives and their futures actually matter.

It is going to be a gargantuan task, but I wish the Labour Party well in government. Let us sincerely hope they are able to restore the public's faith in politics once again.

Name and address supplied.

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