Speeches and Articles from Diana Johnson No 1

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Text for Brentford Gazette

This year the people of Brentwood and Ongar will be voting for a government not just a local MP. Whenever the general election comes I'll be fighting it on Labour's record in government and on the achievements here in Brentwood and Ongar.

This constituency will of course be in the public spotlight after the announcement from Martin Bell that he will be standing as an Independent Tory candidate and possibly Frank Bruno too as another Tory!  It's clear that the local Tories are in complete disarray and at civil war with each other. The Lib-Dems have no realistic chance nationally of forming a government. Indeed they haven't formed a government for over 70 years.  In the 1997 General election in Brentwood and Ongar both the Tory and Lib-Dem vote fell - the Lib-Dems by 4%!  This leaves the election wide open and Labour has everything to play for in this constituency.

Over the next few months I will be putting out the message that only Labour can deliver on the issues that really count to local people, such as schools, hospitals and transport. These services were all starved of investment for decades. Because Labour has been careful with public finances, because we have cut money which has been wasted on paying the cost of social failure like unemployment, we are now able to put in the investment where it is needed - into our schools, into our hospitals, into our transport systems. 

In contrast to the Tories and the Lib-Dems, Labour has costed investment plans for health, education and transport to build a decent future for all local people.

Lets have a look at what Labour has achieved over the last four years. Thanks to tough decisions in the first two years in government, inflation and interest rates are low, public finances are strong and living standards are rising. 

Step by step Labour has been building prosperity, stability and security for all people in Brentwood and Ongar. We have record levels of employment and sustained growth. Over the last year alone unemployment has fallen in Brentwood and Ongar by 23% compared to around 12% nationally. 

This has to be contrasted with Tory dole queues of over 3million, inflation running at 10% and interest rates at 15%. 

Labour has given all 16,000 local pensioners in the constituency a £200 winter fuel allowance. On average by April 2001 local pensioners will be £11 better off a week than they were in 1997. 

Supporting families has been central to many of our policies.  Child benefit is now rising under Labour to £15. Later this year we will see the new tax credit for children introduced which will be worth up to twice the old married couples' allowance. 

I recently spoke with Gisela Stuart, Health Minister and discussed local developments in the health service, including the plans to build a new high tech hospital at Oldchurch.  Also of note are the new ways of working at the Ongar War Memorial Hospital, saved by the Labour Government, including nurse led care and direct GP admissions to wards. We now have NHS Direct covering the constituency and providing quick easy access to health care professionals. This local Health Authority is also seeing a real term's increase in its funding by 6%.  

Brentwood and Ongar is fortunate to have many excellent schools. But of course we always want better facilities and exam results for all our young people.  Just last week I spoke at St Martin's school and saw for myself 4 new building projects on the school site to increase facilities and educational opportunities for pupils. This is all part of Labours continuing commitment to investment in our young people's education. 

When Labour came into power in 1997 there were nearly half a million children age 5, 6 or 7 in class sizes over 30.  In Essex that has fallen from 20% to 4.1% and is continuing to fall.  

This is also the first year that recruitment to train as a teacher has risen since 1992/3. The announcement by the Secretary of State of extra money for teachers is to be very welcomed in recruitment and retention of teachers.

It's clear that educational improvement and excellence for all, continues to be at the heart of this government's agenda.

Labour welcomes all serious candidates to put their record before local people. We believe that it is in the interest of democracy for there to be a lively political debate so people can make an informed choice about who they want to have represent them at Westminster.

I am confident that we can build on the 11% swing to Labour in 1997 in Brentwood and Ongar and see the election of a Labour MP in this constituency.

Diana Johnson               top | back to election page