I was pleased to launch my campaign to be Labour's Deputy Leader yesterday. You can watch my campaign video here.

Read Angela's blog on Labour's plans for parliament and political reform here: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/03/we-must-change-how-we-do-politics-order-get-people-engaged-again

Are you registered to vote?

The system for registering to vote has changed.

The new system is called Individual Electoral Registration (IER). Most people will be transferred across to the new system automatically, but some people may need to re-register.

To make sure you can have your say in May, click on the link below: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Here's a short clip from a Bite the Ballot roundtable discussion I took part in along with Lisa Nandy MP. Here we discuss the issue of Internet privacy and, if you are interested in more, please visit Bite the Ballot's Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=833524416705716&notif_t=scheduled_post_published

Britain's missing million voters

The Government has pushed forward reforms to change the way that voters are registered in the UK, meaning that every elector now needs to register to vote individually, rather than by household. These reforms were hasty, and ill thought-through, and the democratic consequences are extremely serious.

Figures released by local authorities indicate that as a direct result of these changes there are now nearly a million fewer voters on the electoral register than a year ago, with a disproportionate drop-off amongst students and young people who rent.

With an election looming in 4 months' time, it is absolutely critical that these ‘lost’ voters are brought back onto the register before it's too late and they lose the right to vote. Young people, and particularly students will simply lose their political voice unless we act to put this scandal right.

Ed Miliband wrote to University Vice-Chancellors , Local Authority leaders and the Electoral Commission urging them to take steps to tackle this, including promoting the new registration system and organising registration drives.

This election is about a choice that will have an impact for generations to come, and about who we want Britain to work for. And this mess is a direct result of the Government ignoring warnings that rushing these changes through would be bad for our democracy.

Ed Miliband has declared a national mission to give these missing voters their voices back - we urgently need to re-enfranchise this missing million.

Workplace Week

Last week I went on a tour of Britain's workplaces, talking to those I met about Labour's five key pledges for working people at the next General election. I began in a nuclear power station visited a logistics hub, supermarkets and hospitals finally ending up in a prison! This gave me the opportunity to listen to the real pressures and challenges facing people at work talk about what a Labour government will do to help in May.

The tour marked the publication of 'Manifesto for Change' by Unions Together- the 14 trade unions who are affiliated to the Labour Party.

From making work pay through increasing the Minimum Wage and encouraging employers to opt to pay their workers the Living Wage through tax breaks, helping families with the cost of bills with an energy price cap and tackling soaring rail fares, it's clear that only a Labour government will put working people first.

I spoke to hospital workers who told me about their wages going down while their workloads went up, and layers of bureaucracy being placed on the system as a result of the Tories' top-down reorganisation of the NHS. Labour have pledged that we will repeal the Government's Health and Social Care Act and recruiting 20,000 more nurses and 8.000 more GPs - an essential step to save our NHS.

I also spoke to supermarket workers, many of whom are desperate for more hours at work in order to make ends meet. Labour will ban exploitative zero hours contract, stop exploitation of agency workers and improve access to rights at work by reforming the tribunal system. We believe that Britain works best when there is partnership at work.