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Hello and welcome to Women with Balls, where I Katie Balls speak to today's Trailblazers.

My guest today grew up in Merseyside.

Her grandfather was a folk singer who wrote the song, My Liverpool Home, and ran a club.

Her father was a railway man that campaigned for better working conditions,

but it was her mother that sparked her interest

in politics. Following a successful career as Labour Councillor, she went on to win her seat

rural south. My guest has led several senior posts for Labour, which began as Gordon Brown's

parliamentary secretary. But she has yet to know what is like to be in power. My guest today

is the shadow minister for work and pensions. My guest today is the shadow minister for work and pensions.

My guest today is the shadow minister of work and pensions, Alison McGovern.

So Alison, thank you very much for coming on the podcast today.

Thank you for asking me.

Now, we always start by asking the same question, which is, would you describe yours as a happy childhood?

Of course, you wouldn't have anything else to compare it to, but we ask it anyway.

So, happy childhood. Well, it was insufficiently populated with Labour governments. That didn't

make me happy, but, you know, it had a lot going for it.

It was definitely populated with winning Liverpool Football Club teams,

...