Last Friday, the general election candidates gathered for a hustings event at Woking’s United Reformed Church. The audience was filled with residents eager to hear about our plans for health, housing and a host of other submitted questions seeking answers.

But the tranquility of the space was broken almost instantly by immediate accusations and entitlement from Conservative and Liberal Democrat.

In uncomfortable scenes, Mr Lord and Mr Forster argued back and forth about who deserved to be MP — as if it was for them to decide and not the voters. Mr Lord said the Liberal Democrat candidate lacked the ability to be honest with the public.

Mr Forster accused the Tory candidate of not being “from here”. Though given Mr Forster sold off 40 affordable homes in the Sheerwater regeneration project and is on the record voting in favour of the investments that have effectively bankrupted Woking’s council, it’s clear being “from here” does not equal good governing skills.

Both showed the very worst of what it is to be a politician and both made it clear they lacked the calm temperament necessary to lead. The video can still be viewed on Woking URC’s youTube page.

As the Labour candidate, I set out our party’s clear, fully-funded plans for giving Woking back its future after many years of financial and social failure at the hands of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

Among Labour’s first steps, we want to deliver economic stability through boosting economic growth. In our manifesto we commit to setting up a National Wealth Fund where we will partner with the private sector to invest in local businesses and create good jobs.

We will cut NHS waiting times by cracking down on tax avoidance by wealthy non-doms. That alone would allow us to add 40,000 more evening and weekend appointments per week. We will also set up a Border Security Command, using counter-terrorism powers to smash the cross-border trafficking gangs.

To bring down energy bills for residents and business-owners, we will use a windfall tax on oil and gas giants to launch Great British Energy. It will be a nationally-owned company rolling out clean energy and giving us energy security in an uncertain world. We will add 13,000 community police to our streets – including new patrols through Woking town centre to increase resident safety and support high-street businesses.

By ending tax breaks for private schools, we will raise the standards in state schools — which nine out of ten children attend — through the addition of 6,500 more teachers. Children with an education health and care plan (ECHP) will be exempt from these changes.

Our plans are simple but ambitious. Cautious but aspirational. They prioritise stability over chaos, and fiscal discipline over relying on magic money trees.

Labour has done the hard work of changing our party — from significant electoral defeat in 2019 to potentially entering government in two weeks’ time. We are ready to change Woking too.