Why I support Ken for London in 2012

By Catherine West

I am proudly supporting Ken to be Labour’s candidate for mayor, and at this crucial time for the party I want to make plain the positive reasons why.

Ken’s eight years as mayor of London showed his ability to use the available opportunities to make real change and to be a tireless advocate for our city and the people I represent in Islington, one of the poorest boroughs in the country.

No one should ever underestimate the complexity of taking a large public body and making it serve a democratic mandate to better the lives of ordinary people.

In Ken’s tenure as Mayor, we saw exactly that: policies that made a real difference to people; congestion charges that not only eased the capital’s traffic problems but which also supported the expansion of the bus network; safer neighbourhoods teams that led the Met back to community policing; and a planning policy that we in Islington are using to this day to ensure we get the most affordable housing we can in the borough. These are acheivements the labour movement should be proud of.

But that’s what happened in the good times when a Labour government was supporting London. Now we have a Tory-Liberal coalition bent on making cuts to the services we need, and a Tory mayor who has undone so much of the progress we made in our city.

This is where my support for Ken is the strongest. We need a tireless advocate for our city. The Mayor behind the 2012 Olympics win is the person I want making the sell for our city in the the corridors of Whitehall. And when the time comes to take a public stand against unfair cuts to the crucial services delivered by the London boroughs, I know who I want beside me.

We are lucky in Labour. Not only do we have a host of strong leadership candidates, but we have a pool of talented people vying for the mayoralty. I believe that Ken can and should win a positive Labour selection contest and – after four years of Boris Johnson’s failure on congestion charging, on policing cuts and on fair increases – Ken will take back the mayoralty for Labour and for ordinary Londoners.

We desperately need a change on these Tory policies, and others. Boris’ attack on affordable housing is shameful and only serves to underline how important credible, affordable housebuilding is. I know that Ken will put that at the centre of the election.

I am excited about the exchange of ideas to come over the coming months. But whatever happens, that contest must be positive, or the party will not forgive us – because a divided party doesn’t win elections.

In 2012, I beleive we can and will take back City Hall for ordinary Londoners. We have a strong field of candidates to win it; for me, Ken’s at the head of that field.