MP: 'Labour Conference outlines 2.5% deposits and care reform'

This year stood out, though, because so much of it spoke directly to towns like ours.

Never have I met so many people, businesses and organisations from around the country so convinced that this government will bring hope back to the UK, and to places like Basingstoke.

But behind the big speeches and colourful stalls, this year's conference set out decisions that will change life for thousands of people in our town.

Every week, I hear from people paying more than they can afford just to get to work, from families who can't keep up with sky-high bills, and from young people well into their twenties who can only afford to live with their parents.

Changing that requires giving people room to breathe now while building solutions that will last.

That is why the Prime Minister has promised a cost-of-living government, and since walking into Downing Street this summer, he has hit the ground running.

Families will pay less to heat their homes this winter, with VAT cut from electricity bills.

Getting around will cost less too: bus fares are capped at £2, and rail fares have been frozen.

The same breathing space extends to local businesses, with pubs, clubs and live music venues set to have 20 per cent taken off their business rates next year.

Breathing space alone won't fix Britain's deeper problems, though, and the Prime Minister has run towards those too.

Of everything announced this week, two changes speak to both younger and older generations in Basingstoke.

Firstly, help for young people in Basingstoke who have given up on the dream of ever having a home to call their own.

More young people live at home with their parents or rent privately than ever before.

Those who do manage to buy have often needed help from the 'bank of mum and dad' to afford even a modest home, despite working their entire young lives.

Luke Murphy at the Labour conference (Image: Luke Murphy)

Our town can't thrive if our young people can't afford a home of their own.

That's why I was glad to see the government step in, backing affordable loans that will get young people in Basingstoke on the housing ladder.

First-time buyers will need a deposit of just 2.5 per cent, with support targeted at those without family money to help them get on the housing ladder.

Secondly, action on social care through a proposed National Care Service.

Andy Burnham has been clear that the broken social care will, in the end, break the NHS.

Which is why he is proposing a new care service which would share the same principles as the NHS.

Hope, in the end, is the belief that working hard will get you somewhere.

For too many people in Basingstoke, that belief has faded, and after this year's conference, I am more confident than ever that this government will bring it back.