As the school summer holidays come to an end and young people across our area return for a new school year, it’s always a good time to reflect.

When the schools broke up at the end of June, we were in the final straight of the election campaign. It has been just over six weeks since the country voted for change and a new Labour government.

To have the opportunity to serve the community in which I was born, raised and live, the community I know and the community I love, is the honour of my life. In just six weeks, we have started the work of change that we promised during the election campaign.

We now have a government across the UK that is mission-led and committed to public service, focused on rebuilding our country and our communities and fixing the mess left after 14 years of Tory Government.

Many of the decisions we will have to make are difficult ones, but we promised that we would stabilise the economy. Without a strong economy and strong public finances, we can’t properly fund the public services we all rely on, like the NHS, our schools and local councils. 

The government has hit the ground running. As I wrote about last week, it has scrapped the Tories’ anti-worker gimmick of “minimum service levels” strike legislation, which achieved nothing except to poison the well of industrial relations. It has reset industrial relations across the board, entering tough negotiations to reach deals on pay and prevent damaging strikes.

It has acted already to boost wages and put money in people’s pockets by ensuring that the cost of living is now considered in the setting of minimum wage levels. That’s a transformative change in the world of work that will support thousands of workers in this constituency alone.

This government is determined to make work pay and to put an end to the scandal of in-work poverty. As part of our new deal for working people, the discriminatory age bands will also be removed so that all adults are entitled to the same national minimum wage.

Meanwhile, this new government has also scrapped the shameful and extraordinarily expensive Rwanda gimmick, and begun setting up a new Border Security Command to smash the people-smuggling gangs and break the trade in human misery for good.

The racist rioting and thuggery of recent weeks has been a tough challenge, but the Prime Minister was right to call out such violence for what it is, and his demonstration that those involved will face the full force of the law has, we must hope, worked to stem the unrest for good.

On a personal level I am delighted to have been appointed as a government whip, working to deliver on the hugely ambitious and transformative programme of change that people voted for and expect to see implemented. It has been a hectic period setting up a constituency office, hiring staff, and handling casework.

I do not have a physical office space yet, but our constituency office is now fully up and running and we’re working through the many hundreds of emails that people have sent in. Anyone with an issue to raise with me should email martin.mccluskey.mp@parliament.uk.

I have already met with the Energy Minister to discuss clean energy investment in Inverclyde as a result of the establishment of GB Energy in Scotland; my first question in the House of Commons was to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband on a similar subject.

I think there is huge potential for jobs and investment in Inverclyde resulting from the establishment of a publicly-owned clean power company headquartered in Scotland and I will be a relentless, tireless advocate for that investment.

I have also invited Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Murray to come to Inverclyde to see the huge potential of this constituency for himself.

Now, in the period of parliamentary recess, it is an opportunity to be out and about in the constituency and hear from local people, projects and businesses.

It has been a pleasure to visit Home-Start in Greenock, which provides support to parents and carers of under-5s; to meet with the Inverclyde Chamber of Commerce to discuss boosting jobs, business and investment opportunities locally; and to continue to hold my regular surgeries across the constituency.