'I feel passionately about Bromley'

DESPITE disastrous election results this year, falling poll ratings and a year of bad headlines, Rachel Reeves believes her party can win the Bromley and Chislehurst by-election.

In the last of our political interviews leading up to next Thursday's vote, the Labour candidate tells the Bromley Times that her government is delivering - and that John Prescott should keep his job.

HOMETOWN girl Rachel Reeves has returned to Bromley to fight a second election in the space of two years, and although the faces may be the same she is confident the result will not.

"Last time we knocked on doors in every ward of the constituency and spoke to more than 10,000 people. My plan would be to go back to all those people and more. If I do that I have got a fighting chance."

However, Labour suffered a caning in last month's local election, with long serving group leader councilor John Holbrook the highest profile casualty to lose his seat.

He blamed "friendly fire" from his own government for the poor results, the vote coming a week after the 'triple whammy' of John Prescott's affair, Home Office 'blunders' regarding the deportation of foreign prisoners and a 'crisis' in the NHS.

"The results were poor, that is fair to say," replies Ms Reeves, "but local elections and general elections are different, you are electing a member of parliament and people have different reasons for voting."

Regarding the affair, which was said to have alienated many women in the party, the Labour candidate was full of support for the embattled DPM, saying: "John Prescott would be the first person to admit he has made a big mistake but I think he is doing a good job and should be allowed to get on with it.

"What I want to do is run a local campaign, and show that Labour has got a positive vision for Bromley over the next five or 10 years. My campaign will be about the difference a Labour government has made for local people.

"Being from Bromley and being brought up in Bromley I feel passionately about the local area and my experience at the last election has given me that chance."

Apart from investment in public services and support for ID cards and the war in Iraq, a main issue is crime. The building of Bromley police station and the rolling out of Safer Neighbourhood Teams to every ward in the borough is proof, she says, that Labour has delivered. Nevertheless, crime has continued to rise.

Earlier this month she launched a petition to cut knife crime with MPA chair Len Duvall, and on Monday launched 'Save-to-be-Safe' with MP Hazel Blears, urging residents to store the phone numbers of their own area's Safer Neighbourhoods Police Team into their mobile and landline phones.

"During this campaign in my local area the main thing that is being fed back to me is that residents really appreciate the increased police presence. There are over 5,000 more police in Greater London over the past few years under Labour."

The former Cator Park school pupil added: "I promise to represent people to the powers-that-be, not the other way around. Being from Bromley means that I care about what happens locally and that the people of Bromley and Chislehurst are my priority. Only the best services will do for local people including myself.

BROMLEY TIMES