The start of the new parliamentary session is stripped back from its full pomp to a small selection of MPs summonsed to hear the monarch, absent her consort, read the Prime Minister’s plan for Government.

Already heavily trailed in the media, it nakedly focuses on the Prime Minister’s self-interest, rather than the urgent challenges our nation faces.

Many of the bills will be familiar, like the Environment Bill, that toothless piece of legislation we were promised before we left the EU and subject to fierce criticism from Labour and environmentalists alike.

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is due to return. Woefully falling short of protecting women’s safety, this bill clashes with human rights and criminalises people who do not comply. However, central to the bill is the plan to strip us of our right to protest at a time when we are surrounded by burning injustices. In a year of the G7 and COP26, when global human rights and the existential climate threat loom over our planet, Government want to criminalise us if we cause disruption or even ‘make a noise’ as we fight for our children and grandchildren’s future.

In what should be the ‘Climate Parliament’, we are set to miss our fourth, fifth and sixth carbon budget targets.

One of the 25 pieces of legislation will be the Health and Care Bill, failing to halt the marketisation of healthcare and introducing unaccountable Independent Care Systems, due to distribute billions of pounds in a postcode health lottery which determines whether you get the treatment you need. The much-awaited Social Care White Paper is also due to be published, but as this annual ritual of building expectation has never materialised in anything concrete, you may need to wait for a Labour Government.

The dreaded and shredded Housing White Paper is also set to turn into a bill. This will not help York residents get on the housing ladder, but will help developers grow their profits. Having already spoken in debates on this paper, I will stand up for the city when this is debated in Parliament.

The Government have failed to seize this moment in history to reset our national priorities. So if I were to write the ‘Humble Address’, what would I include?

Firstly, I would want a Green New Deal Bill, which created necessary jobs to decarbonise the economy by 2030. Jobs to retrofit domestic properties, use sustainable energy and see a shift in our transport system onto sustainable travel modes.

Second, I’d create a fully integrated Health and Care service, free at the point of need, where all health and care staff are treated as professionals, and in receipt of that much needed pay rise. However, I would also ensure investment focused on a comprehensive public health agenda to prevent sickness and disease.

Third, my Employment Bill would ban zero-hour contracts to make work secure for the 1 million precarious workers and I would also bring forward better employment rights for the self-employed, building on the Taylor Review, as well as advance employment rights.

Fourth, my Housing Bill would force local authorities to build the housing that local people needed, stopping councils like York’s LibDem/Green administration pandering to housing developers instead of putting the housing needs of this city first. Everyone deserves a good home to grow up in and grow old in.

Fifth, my Urban Regeneration Bill would enable communities to reshape their civic spaces, making them fully accessible to the community and enable our towns and cities to be truly family friendly. Alongside this I would redistribute power and resources away from Westminster into the hands of local communities.

I would want our essential services back in public ownership. This week Labour’s Greater Manchester have committed to run public buses and have a fully integrated public transport system. Imagine that for York. Pollution cut and safer streets. I would also scrap tuition fees for FE and university courses and rebuild a social security system that worked.

When you saw the public support in Wales, this week, having pioneered inspirational legislation, it gives us all a taste of what Labour in power can do. Hold that thought for the next general election. I and my colleagues came into politics to transform our country and tackle the gross inequality that this week’s charade will only extend.