You fed York. As food prices rocketed and families struggled, you dug deep and offered what you could.

For some it was a tin of beans; a meal for a stranger. Others clubbed together and collected on their street, in their office, or their trade-union branch, while others gave online; the foodbank stores have been boosted.

Often politics can be all talk and so little gained, but as we came together, we not only stood in the face of the grotesque injustice that people across our community face as they cannot afford to put a meal on their plate, but we did something to tip the balance towards greater equality.

We did for strangers so we can call them our brothers and sisters. It is what solidarity is. It is what York is.

I witnessed so much as we held our York Together Food Drive.

Volunteers from all sectors of society, business leaders serving alongside the homeless. Volunteers giving time, people giving food and money and some as much as they had.

It paints a picture of what politics is really about; humanity.

It paints a picture of what York is and must be.

I am once again humbled by our city; its sheer love and kindness. It redefines society, it redefines what politics is.

When first raising York’s Food Drive in Parliament, the Government Cabinet member said that all people needed to do was work more hours to buy food.

It hit national news headlines as the outrage of her complacency sought to blame the poor.

We proved her wrong, we challenged her ignorance and prejudice and when Parliament returns I will tell her what we did with the greatest of pride, as she, with all the power and authority she has, did nothing. It is always the Tory way.

Ultimately, we need Government to act. To pay workers enough to afford food, to pay pensioners and other claimants enough so they do not go without and to tear down the structural inequalities that blight the lives of so many.

As this Government continues to serve itself, the time is coming for us to elect one that will serve our community; my hope is that it is on its way.

But while we wait for this chance, we must do what we can ourselves: as you did for the York Together Warm Clothes weekend, clothing 2,500 people in York, and this past weekend donating over £3,000 on top of 100s of pallets of food. This is not to mention the thousands who faithfully, week by week quietly drop off food across our city. What an incredible community York is.

Here in York, we are redefining politics. It is about caring for our neighbours and strangers. It is about saying if Government turns its back, we will turn to serve.

So we have the will, we have the ability, now we need to use the power we have to transform our streets, our city, and even our country. For too long we have asked ‘why?’ Well I say, ‘why not’.

We must not let those who sit in the places of authority tell us we can’t any more, because we can. Let us set the agenda. Let us determine the kind of society that we want to live in.

This is real politics. When we take control of our destiny and fight for our futures together, we are so much more than the sum of our parts.

It has always been the way of working people. It has always been how we make society fair. From the suffragettes who fought for women to have a voice to trade unionists who are fighting today for fair pay or our climate campaigners demanding climate justice. It has never been given without us first stepping up to demand change.

Over the decades we have delivered housing we can afford, a welfare state, and of course, our NHS. May we never forget what we can achieve through the actions that we take.

So much, now, so broken, by the greed and profligacy of the elite in power. It is time for us to find that energy within ourselves once more and demand a society that works for everyone.

York Together has fed and clothed York. Friends, it is time for us to redefine politics, to tilt the balance and demand change. As York Together we can.

Rachael Maskell is the Labour MP for York Central