Edwina Hart's Labour leadership statement

Labour leadership candidate Edwina Hart AM, has released her opening statement on the Welsh Labour Leadership website.

Here it is:

I am a candidate for Labour Leader in Wales because I was brought up to believe that practical politics is about creating a more equal society, in which prosperity is shared fairly according to need and not greed. I also learned, very early on, that every advance we have ever gained as a Labour Movement has only been achieved through struggle. My background in the Trade Unions, as the first woman president of the banking union BIFU (now part of Unite) and as Chair of the Wales TUC, taught me the importance of solidarity and effective organisation. Being strong in our socialism means not only having the right ideas, it means having the ability to put those ideas into practice.

That's why, as Health Minister over the past two years, I have worked hard to implement the ‘clear red water’ agenda we have developed here in postdevolution Wales. Eliminating the internal market, putting planning back at the heart of the NHS, bringing previously outsourced services and workers back into the public service, guaranteeing trade unionists a place on new Local Health Boards, progressively eliminating the use of private health services by the NHS in Wales, maintaining free prescriptions, abolishing car parking charges at our hospitals, putting Ward sisters back in charge of hospital cleanliness, making the pursuit of greater equality the touchstone of all we do - all these are policies which are rooted in what I believe the Labour Party in Wales stands for, which brought us into the Party and makes us work for its success.

Holding responsibility for health is only the latest Ministerial portfolio which I have held over the past ten years. Since the Assembly came into being I have been Finance Minister and Minister for Local Government and was immensely proud to be asked, by Rhodri Morgan, to be Wales' first ever Social Justice Minister. In this way, I offer ten years experience working alongside Rhodri at the heart of government, with a track record of getting things done. As a woman in Welsh politics, I know, at first hand, the determination which is needed to turn our ideas of equality and social justice into reality.

Of course, none of this can happen unless we persuade people in Wales to keep voting Labour. That is something we can never take for granted. It's what keeps each of us involved in the essential work of delivering leaflets, holding street stalls and taking Labour's message out into our communities.
To be as successful as we wish, and need, to be, I believe we have to learn again to speak to our supporters in a language, and with a voice, they recognise. I know that I have sometimes been accused, by those who do not share our passion for bringing about change, of being too plain-speaking. My own view is that we cannot speak plainly enough. I want to give Welsh Labour
a voice which reconnects us with our supporters, so that we send as many Welsh Labour MPs as possible back to Westminster at the next General Election, and win a Labour majority at the Assembly elections in 2011.

In our lifetimes we have seen many remarkable changes, including devolution itself. When my mother was born, women in Wales had never had the vote. Now, less than a century later, I am a candidate to be the first woman to lead our Party. None of this would have happened without the Labour movement. That sense of acting together, so that through our collective strength we can bring about improvements for us all will be even more necessary over the next ten years than it has been over the last decade. With your help, as Labour Leader and First Minister I believe I can offer the experience, determination and leadership which all this will require.

Together, we can provide a strong voice, for a strong Wales.