Speeches and letters

TELCO's "Agenda for Change" meeting

During the short time I have been campaigning to be chosen as the Labour candidate to be Mayor of London I have been going out meeting London people in their own communities and I've been to the East End several times already.

That follows up the many visits I made over the last two and a half years as Secretary of State for Health when I visited the East End far more often than anywhere else in the whole of England.

That was because neither the health of people in east London nor the health care are as good as they should be and because I was determined to meet local people - both patients and health professionals and to respond to their priorities.

That was why the East End got the biggest increases in NHS funding, that is why it formed the first Health Action Zone, that's why improvements are being made at Homerton Hospital and are on the way in Newham.

That's why the Government is committed to building a new hospital for the Royal London in Whitechapel and transforming Barts into a specialist heart and cancer hospital.

That's why new primary care premises are being provided and new mental health and community services. Because the East End needs them.

And that's why the new Labour Government has kept its promise to Londoners - the right to elect a mayor and a Greater London Authority- because that's how we can work to change London for the better. Getting more decisions taken by people elected to represent the interests and priorities of Londoners.

And that will apply to the police. For the first time ever there will be a Metropolitan Police Authority - half its members drawn from the Greater London Assembly. Its job will be to make sure the priorities of the police reflect the priorities of Londoners.

And to improve the effectiveness of the police in making sure that they offer the same service, the same protection to all Londoners wherever they live, whether women or men, black, white or Asian, young or old, gay or straight.

As part of that we will have to tackle racism and corruption - for the sake of the public and to restore the reputation of the police as a whole.

Trevor Phillips, who brings a very deep knowledge of policing, has agreed to be my running mate and serve as Deputy Mayor if I'm elected. That will give him an automatic place on the Metropolitan Police Authority and I would expect him to chair it.

As Health Secretary I was acutely aware not just of the need to improve the NHS but also the need to tackle things that make people ill in the first place. Poverty, unemployment, low wages, poor housing, crime and disorder and environmental pollution all combine to make people ill - and all are to be found here in the East End.

As part of my personal commitment to tackle inequality and discrimination I want to concentrate the efforts of the mayor on the areas that are worst off and where as a consequence people are least healthy.

Everybody would be better off if we go in for a massive reduction of pollution, particularly air pollution which does so much harm.

And one way of doing that is to provide a public transport service. A service whether by train, tram or bus that is frequent, safe, reliable, clean, regular and convenient. It's far from that at present. So we need new investment and better management at the top- both are needed because neither one will work without the other.

And of course we have got to attract more business and investment to London - but we can't leave it at that. I believe the resources need to be targeted more carefully - there is too much of a scattergun approach at the moment. Effort needs to be concentrated - and concentrated most in the areas where the jobs are needed and that certainly means here in the East End - lots of people without a job and lots of employers unable to recruit people with the skills needed for their businesses.

We have got to sort this out - the young people who are out of work, the employers and the training system will have to work together much more closely so there is training available and it is training that leads onto a job.

We have to find more public investment and more private investment to create new jobs here and to retain the existing ones. But we have to make sure we get more jobs in businesses that are modern and up to date - jobs with a real future. That's what people, particularly young people need and deserve.

Of course there is a great danger that when we talk about the problems of the East End we seem to be talking down the East End. That's the last thing I want to do. There are all sorts of really good things being developed round here. Good things make good news and good news attracts more good things.

And that's where organisations like TELCO come in. You draw your strength from local people, local neighbourhoods. You draw attention to what is wrong, to what needs to be done - but you also demonstrate the resilience of local people, show that the people living here have got what it takes to make a go of things providing you get the chance.

That's why I would look forward to working with you if I were to become mayor - making sure that your views and your experience are fed in to London-wide strategic policy making straight from the start and regularly in the future.

The mayor can't be a one man or one-woman band. The mayor will have to work in partnership with the elected Assembly, the London boroughs, London businesses, London trade unions and of course with voluntary organisations both local and London wide who represent our many diverse communities.

That's the only way we can make London a better place. Between us we can make London cleaner, safer, healthier and more prosperous - with prosperity shared across our city. Between us we can tackle the inequalities and discrimination. That's how we can make London an even bigger success.

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