New Generation for Medway

Today, the three Medway Constituency Labour parties in Rochester & Strood, Chatham & Aylesford and Gillingham & Rainham have made a joint pitch to the residents of our towns to be part of a new and progressive generation of new activists, Councillors and campaigners for our towns.

Ed Miliband, the new Labour leader, has been elected with the full support of the Medway Labour membership, from each of the three constituencies which comprise the Medway conurbation. He was backed by the majority of voters across the national electoral college in what was a contest and not a coronation.

A new generation is not just a national campaign slogan. In Medway, we are well on the way to seeing the selection of a candidate under the age of 30 in the majority of marginal wards in Medway for next years local elections. This is not to state we do not want experience on the ballot paper as well, but we want a diversity of experience from all generations. We want a wide pool of talent from different backgrounds. We have attracted a new generation who may not have been natural Labour voters in the past.

We want a symbolic and generational change in local politics away from the same tired blue rinse who have badly managed Medway for seven years in direct control.

Ed represents a shift to a new generation and a shift in policy from the previous New Labour period under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. An era with significant achievement but which was increasingly conducted under a cloud of spin and PR, which had been disconnected with the mainstream majority of residents by the end of its tenure in May 2010.

For the press to state that New Labour was an unbridled success ignores the lessons from 2010. The Conservatives changed to win power. Labour must change to win power again. The natural party of government need not be the default. The Tories have a closed minded position on internationalism, on climate change, on equality, on globalisation, on the ability of government to improve lives and empower and build enterprize and business success.

The small business owner in Chatham owes nothing to Tories who have bodged the two-way road scheme and put up rates on their business. The tax payer in Strood owes nothing to Tories who have squandered £850,000 on the Aveling & Porter demolition only for it to become a car park. A car driver in Gillingham owes nothing to Tories who snoop using CCTV cars. A young parent owes nothing to Tories who have scrapped free swimming schemes and a young student owes nothing if he can not get a job because of cuts to the Future Jobs Fund and local Connexion services. People owe nothing to the current Conservatives in Gun Wharf.

Labour will seek to appeal to those who feel squeezed and disheartened by the Cameron cuts and to people who feel that government is not on their side. These are the mainstream majority of residents in Medway. We will appeal to those distrustful of the big state but do want a government which empowers people, improves schools, hospitals and yes, funds the Police. We will appeal to people who want to support small and medium sized business but do not want cuts to research & innovation budgets or cuts to infrastructure programmes such as Heathrow. We will appeal to residents who want a first-class health service free at the point of use; where education is always a priority; and where you and your family are treated equally and can feel safe and secure.

We will be realistic on deficit reduction but will focus on fair taxation to those who have the broadest shoulders. Millionaire bankers and tax exiles should pay their fair share of tax and not like Lord Ashcroft be allowed to siphon of millions of pounds to Belize whilst funding the Conservative Party.

Maybe you already vote Labour at election time? Maybe you don't? Maybe you have thought about joining but not actually done it? Maybe you think you are too young, too old or too busy? Maybe it's because nobody has asked you.

We're asking you now.

Ed Miliband made clear that Labour had to change to win for Britain. Labour has much to celebrate but his leadership will recast a new progressive left for Britain

Labour in Medway will push for:

• Support for small business and entrepreneurs across Medway. Low tax for small business and no return to the strikes of the 1980s. Ed believes in a fairer more liberal Britain not an outdated ideology of strikes.
• Action to reduce the deficit but not over-aggressive and ideological cuts which will undermine public services for the vulnerable whilst harming consumer confidence in business. We need a consolidated and caring approach to cuts.
• Focus on reducing the impacts of immigration on hard working families who feel the system has been designed against them. We will challenge the root causes of people's concerns including lack of affordable housing, jobs and local support services for mothers like Sure Start
• Funding for police to keep crime low and opposition to the politicisation of senior police positions which will waste money
• Opposition to the privatisation reforms in the NHS. Support for patient-centred targets including cutting waiting lists and patient-centred approach to NHS reform
• More ethical foreign policy. Apologising for Iraq. A two-state solution in the Middle-East.
• A living wage for young people and families and a reduction in child poverty across the UK
• Opposition to Tory cuts to education budgets to Mid Kent College and Kent Universities which undermine the future for Medway young people

The election of Ed Miliband represents the turning of a new page for Labour in Medway. Be part of that future as an activist, Councillor or local representative.

Be the future for Medway.