Rachel Blake joined the Labour Party in 2003 and since 2014 she has been a councillor in Tower Hamlets, rising to the position of deputy leader in 2018. In 2022 Labour lost control of the council to Lutfer Rahman and his Aspire party, but unlike many of her colleagues Blake kept her seat and is still a serving councillor.
Opinion polls indicate that Blake — a former policy adviser to Gordon Brown — will win the seat of Cities of London and Westminster making it a Labour constituency for the first time since its creation.
I met her outside The Fitzrovia Chapel in Pearson Square, and we started our chat by discussing homelessness and private renting.
How do you plan to address the issue of rising homelessness, including rough sleeping, and improve affordability and conditions for private renters?
It’s housing that brought me into politics. I’ve spent my entire working life focused on housing, economic development and planning. It’s London’s housing crisis that has brought me into wanting to represent particularly this area that sees growing rough sleeping. Under a Labour government, we were able to reduce rough sleeping. There are a million children now living in families who are homeless, and it’s something that I absolutely will focus on if I am elected.
We’ve got to end no-fault evictions, something the Conservatives said they would do five years’ ago but failed to deliver on. Labour has committed to this, particularly we’re talking about how we would do that and prioritise that and make that happen very soon because that will have the effect of stabilising the private rented sector. We want to support good landlords, we know there are good landlords out there but there are some unscrupulous landlords who use this no-fault eviction and it’s very destabilising for families and the sector.
We know that eviction from the private rented sector is a significant cause of homelessness with people who are sleeping on the streets, saying that that’s what’s caused them to be sleeping rough. So ending no-fault evictions is crucial.
We’ve seen street homelessness grow particularly in this constituency but across London as well. This is something that doesn’t need legislation, what it needs is for the different services to be working more effectively together in a more joined-up way. The different parts of the public sector have different powers to help people to not be sleeping on the streets. There are hospitals, often commissioned by local or regional authorities. There’s local authorities themselves who have the powers around housing, admissions, and giving people a duty for housing. You’ve also got the police and third sector organisations and outreach organisations, mental health support. All of those need to, I believe, work together to support people on the streets.
We saw during Covid [lockdowns] under the “Everyone In” scheme how the sector supported people on the streets. It really can be done. But the problem now is that the services are not able to work in a coordinated way because they have such short-term funding. And also, there is just not what’s called in the sector “move-on accommodation”, so places for people to move on to after going into a hospital. I think that then leads us on to the supply issues. Labour is going to invest in more genuinely affordable homes. We’re going to help local authorities to get more affordable homes out of development schemes. We also want to build new towns, ensuring we’re building new homes alongside the infrastructure that’s needed.
The “Everyone In” scheme does actually work. Yet, it’s not being implemented right now. Can we get people off the streets if we apply ourselves to the task? Labour says with a Labour government and a big government, we can end homelessness. We’ve seen it nearly happen when I was growing up in London in the 1980s. There was cardboard city and it’s something that is absolutely shameful to see people sleeping rough on the streets. You see it across the whole constituency. There’s so many incidences of it, and it’s damaging. It’s so damaging for people. You’re more exposed to illness, you’re more exposed to crime. If you’re sleeping rough on the streets, we absolutely need to focus on it with a Labour government. I believe that we can end rough sleeping.
One of the things that I’ve worked on a lot in the past is helping leaseholders to get transparency around their service charges. There’s a Law Commission report about changes that can be made towards leasehold and Labour wants to end leasehold tenure and to prioritise another form of tenure, which is called commonhold. Because there wasn’t enough progress under the previous government, Labour has said that we will absolutely be delivering on the Law Commission report around ending leasehold because there are so many people living in flats in this constituency.
Are you in support of scrapping the two-child cap on benefits? And why?
Labour has stated that it’s not currently part of our proposals, which is a tough decision for us. When the two-child cap was put in I was strongly against it, and I understand its impact on child poverty. Labour will inherit one of the toughest economic situations in recent times, with high food prices and a pressing need to address energy costs. While tackling these issues is a priority, the two-child limit and child poverty are not immediate plans. Our first step is stabilising the economy and fostering growth. However, addressing these issues is something I strongly advocate for in the future. We recognize the impact and are committed to actions such as free breakfast clubs, ending no-fault evictions, investing in affordable housing, improving home conditions, expanding nursery places, and enhancing mental health support in schools to combat child poverty.
What measures will you implement to reduce rising crime levels?
We face very specific crime and antisocial behaviour challenges here in the Cities of London and Westminster. We’ve got a very high number of people coming into work and coming in for an evening as well which brings all the associated crime and antisocial behaviour risks.
We want to get 13,000 more police officers back on the street [across the UK] and also to restore the Neighbourhood Policing model. What I’m saying to Mayor Sadiq Khan, and also the shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is our very specific crime and antisocial behaviour challenges. So violence against women and girls and crimes like spiking that you see in the West End.
I think that we need to make sure that we have focused policing, specifically on those issues, as well as that investment in the neighbourhood policing model where local police officers meet the community through their safer neighbourhood teams and their local community panels. So that there is some accountability towards local communities who know where the anti-social behaviour is happening and who can share those experiences. I think that’s really important.
I also have been campaigning for reform of the Met. I think it’s shameful that we have sexism, and misogyny and racism within the Met and I’d be a strong voice so that we have a police force that Londoners can trust.
Do you agree with Wes Streeting that the private sector should be used to clear the NHS backlog?
If there’s capacity in the private sector to actually get back on top of the backlog, then I think we should use it. What we’ve got at the moment is a two-tier system and I think that’s wrong. We’ve got some people who are able to go to the private sector and other other people who just can’t. So I think that where there is capacity, we should be using it just to get on top of that.
Do you agree with asking NHS staff to work longer hours to clear the waiting list backlogs?
I think the NHS workforce is crying out for more support and more recognition of the work they do. We have incredible staff within the NHS and the care that they provide is something that I hold very dear to my heart. I know that every citizen in Westminster wants to see the NHS back on its feet. I was in St Mary’s Hospital with Wes Streeting earlier this month and we were just talking about the scale of investments needed in the physical infrastructure. I’m really pleased that Labour has committed to a long term investment plan for St. Mary’s Hospital, which will make the difference in supporting the staff that are working so hard in the hospital. I think that we do need to see new appointments on evenings and weekends so that we are starting to clear the backlog, [and] investing in community health support as well.
Do you believe Thames Water should be nationalised? Why or why not? Should utilities remain in the private sector or be publicly run?
So in terms of Thames Water, we have said that in terms of renationalisation, we can’t afford to do that. But what we have said is there needs to be much tougher rules and tougher actions on the water companies, who for far too long haven’t been addressing the long term infrastructure needs of our system. We have a Victorian pipework system in London in this constituency, we have several underground rivers, we’re probably sitting on top of one now, and I think that that’s where the real work needs to be done. If I was the Member of Parliament here, I would be working with Thames Water to make sure that they’re focused on that long term infrastructure challenge.
In terms of energy generation, GB energy which is funded by the National Wealth Fund, would actually invest in the infrastructure to generate energy. So we would be a nationally owned company, which would generate energy, which would create jobs, reduce energy bills and also make our energy supply more secure, which in an uncertain world is important. Another form of energy generation that I’m particularly keen on, because I’m standing as a Labour and Cooperative candidate, is community energy schemes where local communities come together to invest in micro renewables like solar panels on their own estates; with that energy generated going into communal lighting, communal heating, which overall reduces people’s energy costs. So that kind of community ownership of energy is what I’m really supportive of.
How will you support home insulation to reduce bills and improve energy efficiency, thus reducing carbon emissions?
I’m always going to be for stopping our homes from being damp and leaky. I’ve actually worked in insulating both council, social and private sector homes because it’s a terrible waste for the last 14 years that we haven’t had a proper programme of insulation, which would save people money, because they would be using less energy and it also emits less carbon into the atmosphere. And we also know that cold, damp, leaky homes are bad for people’s physical and mental health. We have our Warm Homes plan, but we will be going into homes to get those energy efficiency measures in, and that’s part of our plan.
How would you improve the environment for walking, wheeling, and cycling?
Three things really need to happen. It’s about having the infrastructure and the local community infrastructure in place. So that’s about making the walking and cycling environment as friendly as possible. So you’ve got bike storage, you’ve got wide enough pavements for people to walk along. I’ve always found that if you can’t walk along with a buggy, or if you can’t walk along with a wheelchair, then I think we need to be asking about whether or not it is a particularly friendly place for active travel. I also think we need to keep tackling air pollution in the constituency. Mayor Sadiq Khan wants to see a completely electric fleet of buses by 2030, and the electrification of that network will have a significant effect on improving air quality in the constituency. I also think it’s really important to keep up education and positive messages about the health benefits of walking and cycling.
E-bikes are littering the pavement, making it much harder for people to walk around, let alone people with mobility challenges. I think local authorities should be able to fine companies who leave their bikes littered on the pavements and remove them if needed.
Do you support the position of countries like Norway, Ireland, Spain (and many others) in recognising a Palestinian state?
I’ve always supported a two-state solution to the crisis in the Middle East, but that has to happen through working with our international partners to progress towards that recognition through a negotiated settlement.
What should be the UK’s relationship with the European Union?
I was a passionate Remainer. I campaigned door-to-door in order to remain in the European Union. I want to see stronger relationships with our European partners and European leaders. We’ve already said that we would go and look again at the agreements on defence, trade and skills and security as well, because we know that that partnership will make us more secure here. One example of change that we would like to see is also making it easier for artists. That’s something that the Brexit arrangements have made it much more difficult for artists and we will see a change there. But I know the impact that the Conservatives’ Brexit deal has had on Londoners and I want us to absolutely renew our relationship with European leaders.
Do you have any final thoughts for the voters?
Well, this constituency has always been represented by the Conservatives. And I think this constituency deserves a Member of Parliament who understands deeply the issues that the constituency faces and also has the experience of delivering and the experience of successful campaigns that meet the needs of the local community. And the only way to beat the Conservatives is to vote Labour here. We’ve already spoken to hundreds of people who will be voting Labour for the first time in this election. And that’s giving us real hope that we are able to return a Labour Member of Parliament here in the Cities of London and Westminster because it’s only Labour that can beat the Conservatives.
You can find out more about Rachel Blake at rachelblake.org.uk
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