Liz Kendall has released a new video and written a letter to every member of the Labour party, laying out her values and stressing the importance of winning the 2020 election.
The full text of the letter is below:
Dear supporter,
You probably think I’m writing to ask you for your vote in the upcoming election for party leader. And I am.
But what really matters for our country and our party is another election – the one we’ll fight together in 2020.
By then, our country will have suffered under five more years of the Tories. More working families in poverty.
More people trapped in low paid, low skilled, insecure work. More young people leaving school without the skills they need to succeed. And more communities left behind.
I’m standing to be Labour’s first woman leader – and Prime Minister – because I love our party too much to see us lose again. Like you, I am Labour because I want Britain to be more equal. And our party is the greatest champion of equality and opportunity our country has ever known.
The NHS. Sure Start. The minimum wage. The longer we’re out of power, the more these great successes are put at risk.
I offer the fresh start our party needs to regain the trust of voters who’ve turned their backs on us. I believe our party has the imagination, the ideas and energy to win in 2020 and make sure Britain faces the challenges of the future: We need to end the inequalities that begin before children even start school.
So whilst the Tories cut inheritance tax for the few – I’d spend that money on a revolution in early years services instead. We must eliminate low pay – giving new powers to the Low Pay Commission to build a real living wage society, and ensuring public sector workers get a proper pay rise. We need a more caring society – where families get the support they need to look after their elderly and disabled loved ones, and with fully joined up NHS and social care. We must share power with people – so decisions are taken in communities and neighbourhoods, not Whitehall, and employees have a real say and a stake in the companies they work for. We need a future of hope for all our young people – so they have the skills, networks, chances and choices they need to get the jobs of the future, and so Britain becomes a world leader in clean energy and tackling climate change.
These are my causes. This is what I’m fighting for. I wasn’t born into the Labour Party. I chose it. Just like we’re going to have to persuade millions of Britons to do at the next general election.
We need to win. I want you to be part of a winning team. I won’t rest until we put our values into action in government because when Labour wins, so does our country. So I ask you to vote for me, as the candidate best placed to achieve this.
Yours,
Liz Kendall
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