Dr Steven Toole launches his priorities for Erith & Thamesmead

10.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 15th Apr 2005

As a local resident I believe that the constituents of Erith and Thamesmead have been taken for granted by Tony Blair's Labour, and been left behind long enough. It is a wonderful multi-cultural area of London to live in, and it deserves better. My guarantee is that I will work hard for local people and will be a listening MP (I can be contacted on 07910 877786 or steven.toole@ntlworld.com.

I am campaigning to improve our local environment. I want to see cleaner streets and open spaces, cleaning up of graffiti,, and an end to fly tipping and the dumping of cars. I will continue to campaign against the current plans for a new 'motorway' bridge crossing at Thamesmead that will simply create more traffic and pollution, against plans for the Belvedere incinerator and inappropriate development, such as on the Erith Marshes. I will campaign for better transport links for the area. Why is it there are twice as many delays on our railways now than when Labour came to power in 1997?

I am fighting to improve local schools and health services for all residents, and to get a better deal for local pensioners. It isn't good enough that residents in Erith and Thamesmead suffer from higher levels of ill health than England on average and that there are fewer teachers per pupil than the national average. I want to see safer streets, and will be campaigning for more police on our streets. And I will be campaigning for a fairer system of tax. The poorest pay a bigger proportion of their income in tax than the richest, and this has a disproportionate impact on an area like Erith and Thamesmead. That's why I want to see council tax scrapped and replaced a fairer system in which those without an income - such as pensioners - pay nothing. In this offer I believe I offer the real alternative to Labour for the residents of Erith and Thamesmead.

For details of our national priorities, please see www.therealalternative.org.uk/tenreasons.html