There are problems that have no political colour. There are realities that do not ask which party you vote for, where you live, how much you earn, what your profession is, or what your social status may be. Loneliness is one of those realities.

That is why I decided to present a Private Members' Bill in Parliament on loneliness. Not because I believe that a law on its own can solve such a deeply human and complex problem, but because I believe Parliament must have the courage to recognise a problem, give it a name, place it on the national agenda, and begin the process of finding better answers together.

Loneliness is one of the quietest problems in our society. Very often, it cannot be seen. A person can be surrounded by people and still feel alone. They can go to work, speak to colleagues, have a family and friends on social media, and still experience that deep feeling that nobody understands them, nobody listens to them, or that they have nobody truly there for them.

And this is where we need to be careful.

We cannot look at loneliness as a weakness of the individual. It is not simply a matter of someone needing to "go out more" or "make more friends". Sometimes loneliness is the result of circumstances that are beyond a person's control.

It may be an elderly person who has lost their husband or wife. It may be a young person struggling to find their place in society. It may be a parent raising children alone. It may be a person with a disability facing barriers to participating fully in community life. It may be an immigrant still trying to build a new life. It may even be someone who, from the outside, appears to have everything, but inside is experiencing a profound emptiness.

That is why I do not want the Private Members' Bill on loneliness to be seen as the final word. I want it to be the beginning of a conversation.

I hope that, once this issue enters Parliament, we will be able to sit around a table. Not merely a metaphorical table, but a real one, bringing together Government, Opposition, professionals, Local Councils, NGOs, organisations representing older people, young people, persons with disabilities, communities and, above all, those who are experiencing loneliness themselves.

Because if we truly want to address loneliness, we must listen to those who live with it.

Politics often speaks about numbers: budgets, economic growth, investment, wages, expenditure and statistics. All of this is important. But behind every number there is a person.

If the economy grows but a person continues to feel alone, we must ask ourselves what is happening.

If we build more roads, more buildings and more infrastructure, but fail to build stronger communities, we must ask ourselves whether we are really building the society we want.

If we have technology that allows us to communicate within seconds with someone on the other side of the world, yet we do not even know the person living in the same block as us, then we have a problem.

Loneliness must therefore become part of our social policy.

We need to strengthen our communities. We need to invest in community centres. We need to give Local Councils a greater role in bringing people together. We need to strengthen volunteering. We need to create more opportunities for older people to remain active. We need to see young people not merely as beneficiaries of policy, but as protagonists and active participants. We need to ensure that persons with disabilities have real access to social life. We need to give greater importance to public spaces where people can meet, talk and feel part of a community.

And we must also strengthen services that provide psychological and social support to those who feel isolated.

But there is another element that no law can impose: a culture of care.

We need to learn once again how to look out for one another.

Sometimes, perhaps, a simple phone call is enough. A visit to someone who has not been going out for some time. A cup of coffee with a neighbour. An invitation to someone we know is alone. Asking, "How are you?" and, for once, genuinely waiting for the answer.

Because compassion is not politics. It is a human value.

And that is precisely why I believe this issue can be an opportunity for Parliament to lead by example. If there is one subject where we should be able to put political divisions aside, it should be loneliness.

I do not want this Private Members' Bill to be seen as belonging to "Government" or to "Opposition". I want it to belong to the people.

I want us to sit around that table not as political adversaries, but as representatives of people who are sometimes telling us, in silence: "I need someone."

That is our responsibility.

Parliament cannot eliminate all loneliness from society. But it can send a powerful message: that we will not accept a situation where a person lives alone at the heart of their community and nobody notices.

That is why I hope this Private Members' Bill will lead to more than just a debate in Parliament. I hope it will lead to action.

I hope we sit around a table.

I hope we listen.

I hope we are not afraid of new ideas.

And above all, I hope we understand that loneliness is not somebody else's problem.

Because today you may be the person looking at the problem. Tomorrow, you may be the person experiencing it.

Politics should be about people.

And if we want to build a fairer society, we must build a society where nobody feels invisible.

That is the challenge.

And this is my invitation:

Let us sit around a table and work together.

Ivan Bartolo MP

Shadow Minister for Social Policy, Family and Social Housing