We need more powers for London and more powers for Londoners

London is a great city but we cannot afford to stand still if we are going to remain the world’s leading city. And for us to continue to lead the world we need a mayor prepared to take the tough decisions. Tough decisions like expanding Heathrow. I want London to benefit from the jobs and wealth that expansion will bring.

But I want more than that.

I want Londoners – people like you and I – to benefit from these decisions and to see the benefits in our daily lives. That’s why I want to cut fares by 10% on day one and freeze them thereafter – a cut of almost 20% in real terms. And it’s why I want to change the way we build homes in this city so that we can all afford to live in one.

But I also want more powers for London so that we can address more of the problems that hold us back. New powers so we can tackle the housing crisis, introduce controls on rents and build more social housing and affordable homes. The power to introduce a real living wage that recognises the costs Londoners have to bear. And control of the levers so we can combat rising inequality and invest in better tubes, trains and buses.

I view London from the perspective of a Londoner getting on the tube, trying to get a job, wanting to make a home here.

My campaign may not have the most recognisable face or be the best financed. But I have represented Britain at the UN Security Council, I have fought for British jobs at World Trade talks. I have negotiated with Presidents and Prime Minister as our Aid Minister. I know what leadership looks like.

Leaders walk towards the big challenges they don’t duck them. Leaders look for what’s in the interests of those people they serve, and have the courage to stand their ground. I will not turn my back on the 40,000 jobs a third runway offers.

We have to expand the Congestion Zone. Fares have to be cut – not frozen, but cut. A new partnership with the City, unpalatable as it will appear to some is in London’s interest. And it is above all, the demand for more powers for London so that we can shape our destiny ourselves that is key to London’s future, and fundamental to my campaign. This is what leadership looks like.

I come from the co-operative movement, and know that if we are to create a fairer and more liveable city, we need to share power and work together. I would open up Transport for London, allowing Londoners to join, attend annual meetings and hold senior management much more to account. I would work to expand community energy projects and support the grassroots campaign to make London a National Park City, valuing our green spaces. And I would bring together London’s credit unions, sharing back office functions and backed up by advertising on the tube and buses to help Londoners struggling to make ends meet avoid having to resort to using a payday lender.

London is a remarkable city – I want to make it greater still. We can do that by winning more powers for London, and crucially, more powers for Londoners.