Inspiring and full of opportunity for all – not just the lucky few. Inequality and poverty, endemic in many of London’s boroughs, blight one of the richest cities in the world and they will take passion, energy and new ideas to tackle.
I started out as a trade union activist working with some of the poorest women in our workforce, shopkeepers and cleaners. I was driven by the need to get a fairer deal for them and their families, and I still am.
I used what I learned in my early campaigning years to change government policy and change the law to improve people’s lives for the better when I was an MP. By ending compulsory competitive tendering, I can proudly say I stopped the public sector procurement practice that caused a race to the bottom; both in terms of quality of services, but also for the working conditions and pay of the people who provided those services.
But there are still too many people in London who miss out on the opportunities that this great city can present. I want to be London’s champion.
There are two issues for Londoners that underline the inequality all around us; both have a devastating effect on too many Londoners.
Housing is in crisis. It’s not just the waiting lists for social housing, but also the number of better-off people who can no longer afford rents and mortgages, yet do not qualify for social housing. I will introduce: a mayor’s mortgage to help people on average wages; a savings scheme for renters to give them a lump sum when they decide to move; and I will help pensioners adapt their homes through a new equity release scheme. It goes without saying that I’ll reintroduce the 50 per cent target for affordable housing in new developments.
Housing quality has such an impact on other outcomes, like health and education, that we can’t simply let the issue slide down the agenda.
Crime has an incontrovertible link with poverty and inequality. We see children drifting into antisocial activity and crime younger and younger. I will deal with this through early intervention, working with families and young people. But we also need to take a very tough line on possession of weapons and drug dealing.
Thirteen young people have been killed by knives in London this year. This is the horrific end of a far greater underlying problem. While previous mayors have claimed it is both isolated and limited as a problem, communities, police and families of the victims know the real truth. We need urgent and concerted action to break the cycle of crime and violence that exists in communities. The mayor has stood by for too long on this issue and we need a new approach.
Labour’s choice of candidate to fight Boris Johnson for the mayoralty of 2012 will be crucial. I will speak for all Londoners; I will always aim to unite rather than divide; and I will not compromise in striving to create a London we can all be proud of. London Labour members will now be receiving their ballot papers, and I am asking for your vote – with your help, I will change London for good.
Oona is right, there is a links between education, Job opportunity and Inequality. Inequality and poverty, become an endemic decease in many of London’s boroughs because people have no job (source of Income). People are trap in poverty because there is no way out, government is no more there to help the poor. Labour government create opportunity for people from lower background to have access to education, but they failed to expand the opportunity to access to jobs. Many finish without job, they end up going back to do some thing they would have done if they don’t have education after many month of waiting and searching. Privatization of Job-centre is a crime. Job centre don’t provide job for people any more, they only manage unemployment and benefits for the government. It has become a place where people are bully for even looking for a job. If Labour leader contestant will llok at all this problem again. I think next election will win back public vote. Samuel