Any candidate for office in the Labour party has to set out their stall, and I’m pleased to highlight five key reasons why, as a person born and brought up in the Labour movement, I believe I am the best person to be the next leader of the Labour party in Wales, and the next first minister.
First, I have the experience needed for the job. I have been finance minister, local government minister, social justice minister and now, minister for health and social services. As budgets tighten, breadth and depth of experience in government is going to be vital.
I am the only candidate, in this election, to be able to discharge, from day one, the responsibilities which come with being first minister – and that is what Wales will need.
Second, my record in politics is as a minister who can get things done. No advances for progressive causes have ever been made without a struggle, including devolution itself.
When my mother was born, women in Wales had never had the vote. Now, less than a century later, I am a candidate to be the first woman to lead my party.
None of this would have happened without the ability to turn ideas into practical action. Over the past two years, as health minister, I have eliminated the internal market from the Welsh NHS; brought outsourced services and workers back into the public service; maintained free prescriptions; abolished car parking charges at our hospitals; and put ward sisters back in charge of hospital cleanliness.
If I am elected, Labour will have a leader – and Wales a first minister – who knows how to make things happen.
Third, I offer a strong programme for the future. I stand squarely in the ‘clear red water’ tradition of Welsh Labour socialism. If I am first minister, Labour at the assembly will pursue policies to help create a more equal society; policies based on public services, publicly provided; policies which treat people as citizens not consumers and policies designed to make our economy work again.
Fourth, I believe I can re-energise our party. I recognise the complaint that Labour voters no longer feel that we stand for those basic values which they shared. We have to learn to speak again to our supporters in a language, and with a voice, they recognise as authentically Labour and I know that I can do this.
Fifth, and most important of all, I believe that, as a woman leading Labour in Wales, I offer the best chance of making us a winning party again.
Nothing we want to achieve in politics can be delivered without persuading people to go on voting for Labour.
My first political priority, as Labour leader and first minister would be to work as hard as I can to send as many Welsh Labour MPs as possible back to Westminster at the next general election, and win a Labour majority at the assembly elections in 2011.
I am standing in this election because I passionately believe that I can offer the experience, the determination and the leadership which our party needs so that, together, we can provide a strong voice for a strong Wales.
