Let's not beat around the bush - this has been a disaster. A catastrophe. A systemic failure.

With the first, second and now into the third lockdown; with cases and hospitalisations surging; Northwick Park at near full capacity; trying to leave our children hungry; and spending billions giving contracts to their friends - ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce you to this disaster of a Tory government.

There have now been more than 80,000 deaths linked to Covid nationwide and we are now consistently seeing multiple deaths a day, in Brent, our home.

And these are not just numbers. These are people - our people; our brothers, our sisters, our friends, our uncles, our aunties, our family! Behind every person, there is a name; behind every name, there is a story. There is loss, there is grief, there is pain, there is mourning.

Having tested positive myself just after Christmas, I can testify to the migraines, the muscle pain, the complete lack of energy, the shivering and sweating. But I know that I am one of the lucky ones. We have families that are having to say goodbye to their loved ones - and we mourn with them.

But it didn’t have to be this way - this was completely avoidable.

Time after time, this government pushed forward with policies that led to the virus spreading quicker and spreading further. From locking down too late in March, to opening up too soon, to Eat Out to Help Out, to reneging on their promise to fund all council expenditure dealing with this pandemic, through to their unclear and contradictory advice, their short-notice decisions and constant U-turns. And that's not to mention the 10 years worth of cuts and underfunding of our NHS, our care services and our schools - for our young, our elderly, sick, the poor and the vulnerable.

Make no mistake, as incompetent as our government has been, our local communities, our schools, our care homes, our NHS, our council staff and mutual aid groups have been supporting and saving lives and we are forever in their debt.

But it didn’t have to be this way.