A United London Based on FAIRNESS, SOCIAL AND FINANCIAL EQUALITY, LOCALISM and COMMUNITY COHESION

Speech by Fiyaz Mughal on Tue 9th Oct 2007

My vision for London is based on these four pillars: fairness, social and financial equality, localism and community cohesion. London should be an economic powerhouse and a great place to live. Of course, it's easy to say you believe in those things - who wouldn't sign up to them? So this is what those four key pillars have come to mean to me over my career in charity and community work and in politics.

• What do I mean by fairness? Everyone has the same opportunities, everyone is treated the same way, everyone gets the same high standard of public services and everyone contributes. It is my view that we can best work towards this by implementing radical social and financial policies, devolving decision making to local communities and fighting discrimination and inequality. So you could say that fairness overarches everything I want to do with London.

• What do I mean by social and financial equality? There are many for whom daily living is an uphill struggle and many areas and communities where exclusion has become the norm. London is the perfect place to get radical policies going that tackle these problems and get the whole community to work on solving them.

• What do I mean by localism? The current Mayoralty is so autocratic that local people in the greatest city on earth cannot make their own decisions, especially about urban planning and community needs, and it does not have to be like that. There is so much great local energy in London - whether it's political activism, entrepreneurship, one-issue local interest groups - and a lot of my policies will involve tapping into that.

• What do I mean by community cohesion? Unfortunately the diversity of London, which is its strength, is consistently questioned, particularly by politicians of the right hoping to capitalise on the fearful ignorance of voters. And clumsy anti-terrorism legislation drives London's communities further apart every day. This whole process needs to stop as a matter of urgency and we need to work with those very communities who can make a difference to tackling terrorism and extremism. Extremism is not within the domain of one religion and it must be tackled in those who have faith and those who do not.