Diane Abbott, Tessa Jowell, Sadiq Khan, David Lammy, Gareth Thomas and Christian Wolmar have been shortlisted by the Labour Party as its possible candidate for next year's Mayor of London election.
As the cost of living in London soars, and property prices keep going up, rents keep going up and the current Mayor's failure to tackle pollution in the capital - the candidate we need and the next Mayor of London should be Diane Abbott.
Diane was the first black woman to be elected into the House of Commons. A look at her member of parliament voting record tells you she puts the people of her constituency first and speaks out for the most marginalised in our society. Whilst Jowell, Lammy and Khan are quite happy to just tow the party line, Diane places the interest of ordinary people first. She opposes the government's austerity programme, when it was the bankers and financial institutions that caused the economy crisis.
Lets take a look at Diane's voting record in comparison to Jowell, Lammy and Khan in last twelve years. In January 2004 Higher Education Bill, which proposed an increase in University Tuition Fees from £1125 to £3000, Diane voted against, Khan wasn't a member of parliament, whilst Jowell and Lammy voted in favour of it.
In 2008 legislation was proposed to prevent prison officers from taking industrial action. Diane voted against, there was a no vote from Lammy, but Jowell and Khan voted in favour of it. In the same year the government proposed to extend the 'Maximum Period of Police Detention Without Charge' from 28 to 42 Days under the Counter-Terrorism Bill. A move that was fought by Liberty - the human rights campaign group.
Liberty commissioned a YouGov poll, revealing that 54% of the public believed that the Government's motivation for extending the pre-charge detention period was to look "tough on terror" and only 13% supported an extension to 42 days. The legislation was defeated in the House of Lords. For the vote in House of Commons, Diane was against, Jowell, Lammy and Khan voted in favour.
In 2009, Diane voted in favour of mandatory pay audits, which will give tribunal access to a companies pay audits under the Equality Bill. Jowell, Lammy and Khan voted against this piece of legislation.
Diane has signed many progressive Early Day Motions (EDM's).These are formal motions submitted in the House of Commons. Although most EDM's don't get debated, many attract a great deal of public interest and frequently receive media coverage. Diane has signed EDM's: calling on the government to restore Legal Aid access to victims of domestic abuse; criticising the government changes to Disabled Student's Allowances and callling for equal access for disabled students;and calling on the government to suspend its strict sanctions regime & review the impact of benefit sanctions.
Her proposal for London and Londoners includes tackling exploitative landlords. Having had debt collectors turn up to my rented house and demand payment for gas and electric even though I was paying these utilities to my landlord I welcome this bold move for a Landlord Licensing Scheme.
As a recipient of the Educational Maintenance Allowance that was scraped by the government in 2010, leaving 97,000 young people with no financial support I know that I would not have made it to University without that vital grant. Diane believes that reintroduction of EMA will help London's young people achieve their potential."
As a daughter of an immigrant and an immigrant myself, whilst other people will have you believe that we are the cause of societies problems, doing so with racist, Islamophobic and homophobic propaganda. Diane wants us to be a London that celebrates the rich culture that comes with diversity and tackling instructional racism such as stop and search.
You can find more information about Diane's campaign at diane4london.co.uk
The Labour Party will select its candidate in an election this Summer. If you are not a Labour Party member you can vote by registering as a supporter of the party and paying just £3.