About me

 

My values are shaped by my family's experience growing up in south London and a deep sense of fighting injustices, because I know what it feels like not to be listened to.

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My parents immigrated to the UK in the 1980s - and they chose to call south London home.

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When our heating stopped working, the council would not respond, and decades on, our town halls and public services are still underfunded.  

We often didn’t feel safe, and decades on, a Tory government has stripped back funding for youth centres and the community policing we rely on.

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Because of poverty wages, my parents were always working, but it still felt like we always struggled with the cost of living. 

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It bred a mistrust in politics by so many of the people I grew up with and so many now.

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My life's work has been underpinned by my commitment to showing that together ordinary people, matched by our Labour values, can achieve extraordinary things. We can restore trust, and politics can be seen as a force for good again.

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Over the last three years, I’ve put my values in to action working for the Mayor of London in City Hall as part of a team that has supported families with the cost of living crisis by providing free healthy school meals for primary school kids, mentors for thousands of young people and taken bold action on climate change.

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As a Councillor in Southwark I led work to create 2000 apprenticeship, unleashed the power of our communities to plant 10,000 trees and was tough on developers by closing the loophole of the dodgy definition of affordable housing.

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I've worked to support the poorest across the globe through my work in international development bringing education to millions of girls across the globe.

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