Labour Deputy Leadership Election 1992

[James Mercer (LAB)]

Canvassing - 1 hour (1 remaining)

James Mercer went campaigning at trade union meetings around the country in pursuit of the Deputy Leadership:

• A union-friendly form of OMOV: "Ordinary union members are our ambassadors to hard-working people around this country. I am glad the Trade Union Links Review Group has found a way to combine the best of OMOV with the best traditions of our movement. I want to implement OMOV in leadership elections and candidate selections according to these proposals and give individual trade union members who register as our supporters a vote in them."
  
• Empowering people at work: "I greatly believe in the results of the Policy Review and the 1992 manifesto. I was part of the 'People at Work' group which presented a great deal for working people, in which education takes center stage. I am passionate about our plans for the Careers Service and our agenda for skills as a means for working people to keep improving their lives, and I know Agnes Hamstead will not disagree. We will make a great team for empowering working people."
  
• Focusing on working people: "I think we could've listened more to the voices of ordinary working people, and that's the secret of our success. Of course you want to hear that we will stick up for the rights of the trade union movement, but that's not enough. You want to hear that your family, your dreams for the future and your services are secure under Labour, and that we'll help you succeed. I am committed to the way we modernised our thinking to put us in touch with the reality of working people again. Through investment into education and into services, through things like childcare, we'll not just defend the trade union movement, we'll fight alongside them to make a difference on the ground."
  

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Canvassing - 1 hour (0 remaining)

James Mercer was out canvassing Labour members in his bid for the deputy leadership:

• Party unity: "The Labour Party has braved the factional strife of the 1980s and moved united into the 1990s. Now is not the time to revisit the old factional differences of the past, but focus on the modern set of policies we all committed to. I have not publicly spoken to my preference for leader, since I believed I needed to be able to work with whomever won that contest. I will work tirelessly to bring people together behind Agnes and build that broad tent Labour Party we both believe in. There's more in our values that we share than that keeps us apart: helping the vulnerable, advancing working people, working for the many rather than the few and building a peaceful world as the Cold War fades. Let's focus on that and we'll remain united."
  
• Keeping the Tories out: "While we've won in 1992 because of our great manifesto, there's more work to be done to build our party's strength. We cannot afford any own goals and slips back into old preoccupations now, but must keep our eyes on the goals we set ourselves, or we risk letting Dylan Macmillan into Number Ten. To do so, we must keep listening to ordinary people, both those that voted Labour and those that do not yet do so. They want us to show that we can combine social justice with economic efficiency, strengthening services with protecting prosperity and creating opportunities with helping those who need a helping hand. Dylan Macmillan will try to tell people that that's impossible. I will join Agnes Hamstead in proudly proclaiming that it is not."
  
• Keep building our party: "Our party has emerged from its deepest crisis since our foundation to reclaim its position as a leading force for social justice. But we're not there yet. If we want to win again in 1997 and increase our majority, we must keep the course that Neil Kinnock set for the long run. We must make haste implementing OMOV. We must not waver from the new direction set by the Policy Review. We must keep updating our appeal with a National Policy Forum. I am the candidate in this race that has spoken most strongly to the need to keep that course."