The general election result was a decisive moment of change in our country.

A change away from the perpetual chaos and decline of the last 14 years and towards prudent and sensible decision making in the long-term interest of the nation. This change is not easy or quick, it will require determination and patience, but it offers us an opportunity to fix our broken public services, especially across Local Government.

We said it before the election and we will keep saying it now, the Local Government funding system is broken and needs fixing.

This broken system has produced a situation where our residents pay more for less, Councils are exploited by expensive private providers of care, our SEND system is deeply frustrating for parents and increasingly unaffordable for Councils, affordable and social housing is hard to build, and basic services under significant strain. It is clear this can't continue.

Some of this will take the extra funding we have been calling for, some will take national reforms to how these services work. Either way, the chance for change is now and we must start working to make the most of it. Our "Let's Fix It Together" campaign sets out some of the initial ways in which these two challenges can be tackled and we will be using that as the basis for our asks of the new Government.

In Greater Manchester, we have already shown how devolution can play a part in this.

We were the first to bring our buses back under public control and have seen consistently better performance and patronage under our new system, with hopefully more to come soon. We have set ambitious targets to grow our economy and deliver the sustainable and affordable homes we need. We are building a new technical education and skills system to make sure all our young people have the best options before them to get on in life and succeed. The new Labour Government has already set out its ambition to empower our region and we look forward to developing devolution even further.

So, this chance for change must address the immediate crisis in public services but also lay the groundwork for the reforms to fix them over the long term. We welcome this change, and we will keep campaigning to deliver it for the people of Bury.