Tens of thousands of people have joined Labour in recent weeks to take part in a much-needed debate about how we can both oppose the Tory government’s vicious cuts agenda and promote an effect alternative to austerity. 

Last week Labour members, affiliated supporters and registered supporters were sent a ballot to select Labour’s mayoral candidate. 

I would urge Morning Star readers to support me as the clear anti-austerity choice and the candidate who will both stand up for London and win for Labour.

At the May 2016 London mayoral election our main opponent will be the Tories. To win, Labour should attack their planned cuts to London’s services and set out an attractive alternative to improve Londoners’ standard of living.

Now more than ever, London needs a truly independent-minded mayor who will fight to protect our public services and stand up for our most vulnerable communities in the face of the Conservatives’ ideologically driven offensive. Austerity will decimate London’s vulnerable communities, with the worst effects of cuts to public services and reforms to welfare still to come.

Not even three months have passed since the election of the majority Conservative government, but it is safe to say that the veil has already fallen away from the party that so brazenly tried to rebrand itself as the one of working people.

Within just seven days of government, the Tories managed to draw up £12 billion worth of further cuts to welfare, recommend restrictions to trade unions that would make legal strikes virtually impossible, advocate the forcible return of African migrants and propose a counter-extremism Bill without being able to define an extremist.

Alarmingly, we have heard the news that in addition to the existing 50,000 children in the UK who subsist below the poverty line, another 40,000 children face being plunged into poverty by government plans to lower the household benefit cap.

We also need to be clear that the effects of further austerity will be felt hardest in London, a city that houses more millionaires than any other city in the world yet has some of the highest rates of child poverty in Europe. Cuts will only exacerbate an inequality in the capital that is spiralling rapidly out of control.

The current part-time Tory mayor of London has nurtured an environment in which developers and buy-to-let landlords have been able to trample on the interests of ordinary Londoners.Now, I fear for the future of our communities.

With housing associations in the capital forecasting a dramatic spike in rent arrears, evictions and homelessness, London desperately needs a mayor who will act in the best interests of Londoners rather than at the behest of party politics.

With a comprehensive vision for a more equitable London, I believe I can be that mayor.

As mayor of London I would take forward the positive campaigning and policies we need to defend ordinary Londoners against austerity, including by:

• Campaigning against Tory austerity — to defend public services and welfare
• Building genuinely affordable homes — driving through more council housing and rent controls
• Freezing transport fares for four years
• Campaigning and using procurement to extend the London Living Wage
• Establishing a green investment fund and taking real action on climate change
• Restoring education maintenance allowances across the capital
• Promoting trade union rights
• Taking positive action for equality for all and celebrating London’s diversity.

These are all clear starting points for tackling the inequality that threatens London’s future.

But just as importantly, the mayor of London can play a key role in challenging the narrative emanating from both the Tories and the Labour Party that austerity is the only way.

The bottom line is that a city cannot continue to function if its citizens are increasingly left behind. The London I knew as a young woman was a city of hope and opportunity — this is not the case for the capital’s youth today.

It is essential that the next mayor of London takes a stand against austerity and the social cleansing of our city. Without this stand, London’s future lies in the balance. My record shows I will speak out for Londoners and deliver real change.

I have fought to make London a better place for ordinary Londoners all my life. I opposed the Iraq war, voted against tuition fees, I was the only mayoral candidate who voted against the welfare cap in 2014 and have stood against Tory austerity including in joining the 250,000 strong End Austerity Now demonstration in June. I will be equally fearless in standing up for London — please give me your support.

• Diane Abbott is the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington and is running to be Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London. For more information please contact www.diane4london.co.uk.