Just a few weeks ago the Prime Minister told us that austerity is over.

After eight years of cuts which hit the least well off the hardest we heard that light would be at the end of the tunnel. That seems an eternity ago now.

Last week in Parliament we debated the budget, one where we heard from the government that rather than austerity ending, we would see years more of cuts which hit areas like ours the hardest.

Our local authority has had its annual budget decimated – slashed by over £130 million every single year.

While Wigan Council should be commended for the work they do to keep essential services operational, it’s important to remember the cuts impacting the important provisions on our streets such as drug and alcohol services and early intervention can be traced back to Downing Street.

Almost 2,000 fewer officers are on the streets of Greater Manchester today because of the decisions made when Theresa May was Home Secretary and now Prime Minister.

It is our communities who pay the price for these cuts with alcohol and drug addiction now commonplace on our streets and a wave of anti-social behaviour erupting over the summer.

Is it any surprise that violent crime has risen 41 per cent when there are less police on our streets and less early intervention and prevention services?

Just over the past few weeks I’ve also been contacted by an alarming number of constituents working in shops who have fallen victim to violent robberies.

These are mothers of sons and daughters who now feel scared going to work because of their experiences. How has it come to this?

So, a few weeks ago I went on patrol with our officers to see what they are confronted with on an average shift. It isn’t crime fighting or investigating, it’s filling in the gaps which our local authority once covered – they act as social workers, addiction specialists and counsellors, commendably serving in roles they simply should not have to fill.

We’ve also seen unsustainable cuts to our health services and mental health provisions. Just locally our schools will see cuts of £4 million from primary school budgets and £4.3 million from secondary school budgets.

And homelessness is now becoming more visible on our streets.

Last week we heard the Chancellor try to sugar-coat their eight years of cuts and mask over the deepening splits in the Conservative Party, but he fooled nobody.

The evidence of austerity is in towns such as ours which have been left hollowed with cuts that have now reached the bone and are risking social cohesion.

Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, in contrast, offered a real alternative that would end austerity and invest in our communities.

This isn’t just a headline but a real plan which involves a National Investment Bank that sits in our community to let local people decide the investment decisions we need.

The next Labour Government would not just end austerity but also end the Whitehall hold over the purse strings of government, putting the powers and investment where it belongs- in our communities.