I'm a working-class lad, who started working at weekends at 16 years old in a bakery, while still attending sixth-form. I haven't stopped working since - including on evenings and at weekends for several years to help pay his way through university – the first of his family to go.

I believe passionately in good honest hard work and not asking others to do things I wouldn't be willing to do myself. I get stuck in, and care about doing things the right way.

It is why I put myself forward for election in Hunslet and Riverside Ward. Since I was elected, I've worked non-stop for the last five years for you. Making your priorities, my priorities.

I'm committed to the idea of common endeavour, of achieving together, and a society where we are judged by how we protect the most in need.