Speeches and letters

LAUNCH OF THE CAMPAIGN OF THE LABOUR CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR OF LONDON

Here we have it after weeks of dithering - Ken Livingstone has made two announcements: one - that he will run as an anti-Labour candidate, two - that he is cancelling his rally tonight which would have seen further support from the Socialist Alliance.

I have one message for him today. Ken you can run, but you cannot hide your politics from Londoners.

I will expose your policies and the people that surround you every day, every week, of this campaign. And I will do it because you are a danger to London.

On the 4th of May, Londoners face a big decision.

I offer policies that will support hard working families. Ken Livingstone would hurt hard working families. Steven Norris would defend privilege.

I will crack down on crime. Ken Livingstone would crack down on the Metropolitan Police and Steven Norris would fail on crime.

I will rebuild the tube. Ken Livingstone would saddle Londoners with debt and higher taxes. Steven Norris would privatise the tube.

The London Mayor will have the biggest direct personal mandate of anyone in public life. A £3 billion budget. Making decisions that affect the lives of millions of Londoners.

The decent, hardworking majority of people in London will look to the Mayor to get things done.

Chat show politics won't get things done. Personality parades will not tackle the serious problems we face in London.

In this election the people of London face a stark choice.

I offer leadership. A clear vision. Practical solutions to the problems we face. And I also recognise that the Mayor must work as part of a team.

The Mayor must have the trust of the people and the confidence of all those with a stake in making London a better place - the new Assembly members, business leaders, local councils, the police, voluntary bodies, the wider community.

The job of the London Mayor is a serious job and Londoners are right to demand a serious candidate.

In the coming days and weeks, I'm going to be spelling out my policies, dealing with the real issues that matter to the people in this city of ours.

Economic regeneration - working with business, bringing in new investment, making the Mayor's office the biggest catalyst for jobs this city has ever seen.

Transforming our transport system - getting London moving again will be fundamental to the job of the new Mayor. A transport system that is safe and clean. One that Londoners can rely on. A transport system we can all be proud of.

Today I want to concentrate on crime. The Mayor, the Assembly and the new Metropolitan Police Authority will have new powers over policing. Far beyond anything ever known before in London. It is vital those powers are used to strengthen the police and help them make London a safer place for everyone, young and old, black or white, men and women.

Last week figures released showed that London street crime was on the up.

As a result, parents are uneasy about letting their children out of the house, women are afraid to travel on public transport after dark, and many of the pensioners. A generation that survived the blitz and defeated Hitler are fearful to go out on the street where they live.

Well, I promise all of them a new blitz - a blitz on crime.

As you know Trevor Phillips is my nominee to chair the new Metropolitan Police Authority. Today I am asking Trevor to make the battle against street crime his top priority. I am giving Trevor the target of reversing the current rise in street crime within two years.

Let me repeat that pledge: within two years of me being elected Mayor of London, the level of street crime in our capital will fall.

I am determined that we act to address the causes of crime in our city.

Firstly, there has been a widespread perception that the rise in street crime is associated with changes in police practices since the publication of the McPherson report. Regardless of the validity of this assertion let me say loud and clear I reject entirely the view that the price of tackling prejudice in the police force must be a rise in crime.

After all, black and Asian people, are more likely than most to be the victims of crime. We owe it to all the victims of crime to catch the criminals.

My message is simple - I support stop and search. It is a fundamental weapon in the war against crime. I want that weapon to be used fairly but used effectively.

And we can do both by better targeting of stop and search so that more of those who are stopped are found to be in possession of weapons, or drugs or stolen goods. No one can object to that.

And my pledge to Londoners today - to all Londoners today - is that the fight against crime and the fight against racism will go hand in hand if I am elected Mayor of London.

Secondly we know that keeping the public in the picture can help bring about change.

The people of London and the police know where the street crime hot spots are. I want the communities in those hot spots to know what the police are doing about it. And that's because I also want local people to play their part in helping the police.

It means telling the police when you see something suspicious, when you know that somebody is up to no good. It means checking where your teenage children are tonight. It means not tolerating crime and not accepting it as something that we just have to put up with. That's why I support the Met campaign urging people to Rat on the Rat.

Thirdly, we must begin to recognise the cost to London of removing a lot of front line public workers.

Park keepers replaced by roving teams. Ticket collectors replaced by machines. Caretakers not replaced at all. I am asking Trevor Phillips to examine with the police and local authorities and other employers across London how best to get their public servants back on view. Their visible, high profile presence help deter violence, vandalism and loutish behaviour.

Fourthly, as we all know the police are central to the fight against crime. That is why I have said that every Londoner should be given the name of their local police officers and how they can get in touch with them.

That is why I can announce today that if I am elected Mayor of London, I want to see a massive campaign to encourage Londoners to volunteer as special constables. I want to see another 1000 special constables within four years of being elected Mayor.

I want people who enjoy the respect of their community - who share our commitment to tackle crime - to join us. To play their part in ridding our communities of crime. Another way we can work with every community in the fight against crime. Another way of getting more black and Asian Londoners involved in the fight against crime.

And fifth, I believe that the only way to tackle crime in London effectively is to have more police in London. As Mayor of London, I will make sure that London gets the resources we need to turn back the rising tide of crime.

That's why I'm asking Trevor to work with the police on an audit of their requirements and how their resources are used. I can tell you now, I will be taking London's case to Jack Straw and to Gordon Brown and demanding the resources we need to make London a safer city to live in, to work in and to visit.

I am also determined to make sure that the Met have the most up-to-date equipment to help them in the blitz on crime. For example we must make sure that, as mobile communications improve for everyone else, the police service has the best - handsets which log the location of police officers and which are also available to other people working on their own, such as doctors, health visitors, postal workers and social workers.

I want to bring together telecom groups, the police and IT companies to look at how the new generation of mobile phones can help speed up detection and provide greater security to the police and vulnerable people.

These are some of the steps I will take as Mayor. It is a challenge to me and to Trevor Phillips and it is also a challenge to the police, a challenge to London boroughs and London businesses. A challenge to all of us in London who want to see our city free from crime.

And you know crime can't be separated out from issues like jobs or transport.

Rising crime drives out business and drives out jobs. It deters businesses from investing in our city. Vandalism, theft, and violence are all bad news for business and can drive out existing employers.

But I tell you what else is bad for business in London - Ken Livingstone is bad for business in London. Even while he was dithering firms were re-considering their investment plans. Livingstone as Mayor would threaten business and jobs in London.

And crime is a transport issue too. Many women choose to travel by car, not because it's quicker or more convenient. But because they don't feel safe at night getting the tube, or jumping on a bus, making that journey from the tube or bus station to their home.

When I was the Shadow Transport Secretary in the early 1990s, I initiated a campaign to promote safer stations. That is beginning to pay off and many railway and tube stations, particularly in the suburbs, are being made safe with better lighting and CCTV. I pledge that more will be done.

How we tackle crime is central to the work of the London Mayor. And it demonstrates - perhaps more than anything - the stark contrast between what I am saying as Labour's candidate in London and what Ken Livingstone is saying as the anti Labour candidate.

I will be backing the police. Ken Livingstone is anti-police.

To listen to him and his supporters, you would think that London's main crime problem is the Metropolitan Police.

He has said that he wants Lee Jasper in his kitchen cabinet. Lee Jasper says that his appointment would mean Scotland Yard tearing their hair out. I don't want that. I want the criminals to be tearing their hair out.

While Ken Livingstone and his friends would fight the Metropolitan police, I will be fighting crime.

I want to work with the new Assembly, with the London Boroughs, with the wider community. Ken wants to go it alone.

And worse still, when he's not in the television studio, he counts on the support of people from extremist organisations like the Socialist Alliance.

Has anyone considered just what the Socialist Alliance stands for on crime and the police?

They'd stop the police carrying guns when up against armed criminals. They don't want more police. They talk about "stopping the war on drugs".

If I am elected Mayor of London, I will back the police 100 per cent when it comes to the fight against drugs. I will ensure that the police come down like a ton of bricks on London's drug dealers. There can be no tea and sympathy for the people whose trade is human misery and ruined lives. In particular, those who hang around the school gates and prey on London's children will feel the full force of the law.

That is why on Friday I called for the new Confiscation Agency to be set up in London with the power to remove the ill gotten gains, the money and the flash cars of those people who cannot explain the source of their income - the known drug dealers. The people whose lifestyles are a perpetual mockery of what hard working Londoners believe in and are an appalling example to young people.

Can I finish by saying this.

The challenge of leading London - in the fight against crime, in modernising our transport system, bringing in more jobs and tackling the great inequalities in our city - is demanding. And it is serious. It calls for hard work - constant effort and application.

We are a city of wonderful opportunities, of great culture, a proud history, but we are also a city of often desperate poverty and rising crime. I say to Londoners that it needn't be that way. London can be a better place.

I have lived here for 40 years. I brought up my family here. I have represented people in London for over 30 years.

London is one of the world's great cities. For generations, hardworking families have found work and opportunities here.

But I want things to be better in the future. For my grandchildren - for the next generation of Londoners.

And the fight against crime is central to Labour's campaign in London - central to delivering that better future for London.

So enough of all the trivia. Enough of endless distractions from the real issues that affect the everyday lives of Londoners.

I didn't enter public life to play to the gallery.

I'm here to get things done.

I want a London of which we can be proud.

A London which is the best city in the world to live in, to work in, to learn in and to visit. The best city to grow up in. The best city in which to grow old. The fairest city.

That's my ambition for London. That's what fires me in this campaign. It's a battle for the hearts and minds of Londoners. A battle for London's future.

The phoney war is over. The campaign for London's future starts here.

Top of page

To home page