'AS we now look like we are heading into a second wave of Covid it is in my view important that we all do our best to stick to the rules which are designed to try and minimise the spread of the virus.

I know that many people are fed up and want back to the norm but I am afraid that looks increasingly unlikely for the foreseeable future. Indeed, I hope that the events of the last year make us all stop and think about what the norm might look like moving forward.

I know that everyone will say they love their children, grandchildren and family and yet the greatest threat for future generations, that is our children and grandchildren, is the massive damage we are doing to the planet.

Many years ago people used to laugh and joke that Prince Charles was a tree hugger yet what he warned about - the damage to the planet - is now very visible across the world with floods, droughts, fires and all sorts of extreme weather events all of which are having a profound impact on our planet and its future existence.

So whilst we deal with the immediate crisis of the virus I hope we can also reflect on the fact that the world we came into is going to be much worse when we leave it unless we take both personal responsibility and take more focussed action at government levels to deal with climate change.

As well as the public health crisis we are also facing a tsunami of jobs losses and that also requires government at every level to be focused on the build back. I have in the last weeks raised questions with Ministers and spoke up in debates in parliament to argue we need the same kind of response as that of the post war Keynesian consensus.

This would mean investing in our economy through major infrastructures projects that should see hundreds of thousands of new council houses being built, news schools and investment in strong communities. This approach creates skills opportunities, thousands of apprenticeships and jobs whilst tackling the big social challenges that have been exposed even more by the pandemic.

Fundamentally we need a new approach to how we run and organise our economy and whilst there are big challenges, the rewards if we get it right will be enormous for future generations'.