Labour has shown again that it doesn't understand red wall areas like Ashfield

The events of this week have proved again that Labour do not care about the issues that are important to the red wall voters.

It has been seven years since Labour lost the red wall for the first time in modern history and I was one of the new red wall MPs elected in that 2019 General Election when the red wall withdrew their generational support of Labour.

Ever since, Labour hasn't come close to winning back the hearts of those in areas like Ashfield and that's because they have abandoned the values and issues that are important to the people that live here.

The events of the last week have only fortified that fact.

Over and over again, many red wall areas voted for Brexit, many by significant margins.

Ashfield voted 70 per cent to Leave in 2016.

But yet last week, as if a spit in the face to those voters, the Labour Party has decided to include a bill in the King's Speech that will tie the UK closer to the EU.

This is a betrayal of democracy and all areas that voted to leave to European Union.

Also featuring in the King's Speech was yet more green legislation to plough ahead with net zero, likely destroying even more of our industries and push up our snowballing energy bills.

What message does this send to deprived areas like Ashfield in the red wall that have never recovered from the collapse of our industries like coal and steel, and that continue to struggle with the cost of living and rising bills?

They are quite happy to press on with their unaffordable green policies to satisfy their virtues, even if it means pushing people into poverty to achieve it.

New veteran clubs are being set up locally like the one in Huthwaite that's recently been established by Reform councillor Terry Cox.

Meanwhile, the Labour Government included in the King's Speech more legislation to strengthen the witch-hunt against our veterans that served in Northern Ireland.

Far from wanting our veterans to be supported, Labour wants to drag them through the courts to be prosecuted.

The stark contrast in their priorities is astounding – leave our veterans alone.

What was glaringly absent from the King's Speech was any measures to cut the ever-expanding bloated benefits bill that is burdening hard-working taxpayers in areas like Ashfield and the red wall.

But what I think was most enlightening to show the disconnect between Labour and the red wall, was the recent Labour members' opinion poll of leading Labour figures.

Repeatedly, red wall areas like Ashfield have voted for lower immigration.

Yet, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood MP, who seems to be the only person in Government who appears to want to at least make a dent in this issue, is apparently one of the least popular senior Labour figures amongst party members.

Instead, it seems, the runners and riders to replace Starmer are left-wing idealists that fly in the face of the common-sense approach of areas like Ashfield.