Speeches

Full Council - February 2007

Madam Mayor

I am very proud to be speaking for the first time in this chamber. I know some people must be surprised that I’m here at all given the bold predictions last year of a Conservative landslide in Clapham Town, but I am pleased to say that, having ousted the only Tory in the village, we have three Labour councillors in Clapham Town.

Since being elected I’ve enjoyed helping people get things sorted. We got a street lamp fixed on Heath Road Estate after it had been broken for a year. We got a water feature on the Westbury Estate flowing again after the Council had neglected it. And I’ve campaigned against the graffiti that makes our area look uncared for and encourages crime.

After I suggested in this chamber that the Mayor of London should bring the Rise festival to Lambeth I was amazed when he agreed – if I had known Ken was so receptive I would have asked for back stage passes too!

I am proud to serve as a member of the Labour administration that is driving through real change in Lambeth. I glad that Clapham’s estates now have their own area housing office.

I’m very proud that we are investing a record amount to tackle domestic violence, a crime that happens behind closed doors and destroys the lives of the women and children who are its victims.

As a child who grew up in an abusive home. I saw my own mother punched and beaten. I know how important this support is. I remember my mother calling the council, begging to be re-housed as the violence got worse. We lived in daily fear for our lives. She received a standard response ‘that he would have to throw us out’ before we’d get any help. Twenty years on, things should be better. Here in Lambeth, we have some the highest levels of domestic abuse in the country, but until now we have failed to take this issue seriously enough.

There are many hidden victims of domestic abuse. Thousands of children brought up in abusive relationships move on to continue a cycle of violence. If we can break the cycle we could make a difference for today’s children and tomorrow’s children as well.

Abuse is not just physical, often the words hurt more. I still remember vividly the words he taunted me with. He told me endlessly that no one would ever like me – I would never get on in life – and that I would never be better than him.

Well he was wrong! I have great friends. I have a fantastic career that I love. Over a thousand people chose me to represent them in Clapham Town. In the past, not enough families got help when they needed it. Right now, families in Lambeth are calling to us for help. I’m proud that tonight I am going to use my vote to make sure that today’s victims of domestic violence get the support they need, support that my family never got.

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Full Council - September 2007

Sixty per cent of people living in council housing in Lambeth are on benefits. Of those in work, many are on low pay, others have no work at all. Estates that were left derelict under Tory rule are now seeing massive investment thanks to Labour. But still, too many of our tenants live in conditions that are unacceptable. Living in a home that is damp, unheated or fitted with an out of date kitchen is demoralizing. It says to the people living there that they don’t matter. That’s why this Council, unlike the one that preceded it, has taken positive action to bring in the money to put things right.

We owe it to our tenants to give them the chance of a better home.

I regret the fact that the Liberals have called this meeting tonight to argue over whether ‘don’t know’ means ‘yes’ or ‘no’. That is simply irrelevant when the issue before us is how we bring in the money that will change people’s lives by improving their homes.

Can we please remind ourselves that every home that is improved will make a life-changing difference to the families living there. And the faster we can do it, the better. People deserve better than being left in cold, damp, out-of-date flats. Yet that would be the outcome of what these Liberals want.

The ALMO means we can bid for the money that will change lives for the better. We can bid for the biggest single investment in public housing in Lambeth’s history. I am appalled that the Liberals have decided to position themselves against the will of tenants themselves, against the interests of the poorest, and against the only chance we have to bring all our homes up to decent standards.

We need to get on and bring in the investment that will improve people’s homes and improves people’s lives in Clapham Town and right across this Borough. I’m proud to give my support to the ALMO that will make that happen.

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