Text of a speech by Tessa Jowell MP,

Minister for the Olympics and London at the Labour Party Spring Conference, Birmingham, 2008

- CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY -

Conference,

I want you to shut your eyes. [Go on]

Imagine yourself going forward in time to the beginning of May this year.

And now imagine you're waking up.....and Boris Johnson- MP for Henley on Thames - is the Mayor of London.

Don't laugh.

The Mayoral race this time is closer than it's been at any point since Labour gave London back its Government. eight years ago.

So we have a big job to do - but, in Mayor Ken Livingstone, we've got a great asset.

Those who win in modern politics are those who anticipate and shape the challenges of the future.

And Ken is one of those people.

For the May elections we have a great campaign ahead of us to demonstrate how fit Labour is to face the challenges of future London.

To won again the confidence of Londoners that it is Labour they trust to take London forward as the world class, diverse and successful city they love.

But let's be clear, all that we've achieved so far will not be enough on its own to win.

Why not?

Because the challenges of Government are constantly changing.

As people's expectations rise - often as a result of the change in their lives achieved by progressive Labour Government.

So modern, progressive and dynamic Government can never stand still.

As London moves on with a growing economy, as a world city, it must address the risks of the future.

For example, London's growth will rely on ever more skilled workers - by 2020, half the jobs in London will require a degree level qualification or equivalent, but today only 35% of Londoners have those qualifications.

Like the rest of the country - only more so - while rising house prices in London have contributed to the wealth of many, for London's nurses, teachers bus drivers and local authority workers it is almost impossible to get on to the bottom rung of the ladder.

And while London is one of the world's most successful cities, the fastest growing in Europe, huge inequalities remain, in income, employment and quality of life.

London has both the highest proportion of the poorest people in the country and the highest proportion of the richest.

New challenges require new ideas.

It is an affront that after all the progress we've made, still 4 out ten children in London live in poverty.

This is a call for action for Government everyday.

Ending poverty is fundamental to what it means to be Labour and to what it means to be Ken Livingstone.

It's what we're here to do.

Looking at the success of London in 2008, it's hard to remember what it was like 30 years ago.

Then it was a city in decline: people leaving, empty homes, jobs disappearing.
A city losing the fight with the future.

But then the New Labour Government gave London its democracy back.

And Ken Livingstone has used it to take on the challenges of the 21st Century.

No city leader takes Climate Change more seriously - whether its public transport, planning, building, recycling, energy efficiency.

But Boris praised George Bush for his opposition to Kyoto.

Boris - you can't claim to be green and against Kyoto.

No city leader has dealt with congestion more determinedly than Ken - London is the only major city in the world that is getting people out of their cars and onto public transport.

No leader of a world city has shown more leadership in celebrating diversity and tolerance.

London - where 300 languages are spoken - where its diversity is so loved by Londoners.

Where Ken unites, Boris would divide London.

And on crime, no one knows more than me for my constituents how far have we have to go in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour.

But we have neighbourhood police teams in every community in London and Londoners are beginning to feel the difference.

I worked with Ken and Seb in bidding for the London 2012 Games.

We won the right the host to games against all the usual predictions of failure from the usual doomsayers.

Let's take the Olympics is a symbol of everything Labour stands for:

• optimism
• looking to the future and planning for the long-term
• courage and self-confidence to go for it

And what a proud Legacy it will bring.

Three quarters of the investment going into the Games is being spent on Legacy for the long term.

Transforming the heart of East London - 12,000 jobs and 9,000 new homes, many of them for London's key workers.

The biggest new urban park in Europe for 150 years - a blueprint for sustainable living.

And of course new world class sports facilities.

And already in the poorest part of London, the Olympics are changing lives.

10% of the current workforce on the Olympic Park were previously unemployed, 20% come from the five host boroughs.

Number that are set to increase because 2000 apprenticeships and work experience will be available on the site - there are less than a hundred in Hackney today.

At the close of the games in Beijing in August, London will become the next host city for the Olympic Games and the whole country will celebrate.

It's now my pleasure to introduce the man who will take hold of that flag.

On the 1st of May London will elect its Mayor, but it will also elect the team to support him in the Assembly and hold him to account.

Labour has a fine list of candidates ready to take-up that challenge.

Our existing members:


Nicky Gavron
Jeanette Arnold
John Biggs
Len Duvall
Joanne McCartney
Val Shawcross
Murad Qureshi

And our new candidates:
Shafi Khan
Leonie Cooper
Balvinder Saund
Ranjit Dheer
Alex Heslop
Ansuya Sodha
Navin Shah

The Prime Minister has asked me to lead that campaign.

So for the next two months, together with our party members, our supporters, and Members of Parliament, I will be out and about on the streets across London supporting Ken and all the Labour candidates.

We will take our campaign to every street in London.

And our simple message.

Everyone should share in London's success.

That is what is at stake on May the first.

And what matters most to Londoners?

I'll tell you.

Commitment.

To their city.

To their future.

So let me now introduce a man who has a lifetime of commitment to the people of London, Mayor Ken Livingstone.