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• Charity/Aid
- He supports an increase in Britain's Aid budget and is committed to reaching the UN agreed target of 0.7% of Gross National Income being spent on development assistance by 2013.
- He supports the eight Millennium Development Goals, an internationally agreed set of priorities by 2015 on a range of vitally important issues such as increasing the number of children attending school, improving healthcare, cutting maternal and child death and combating major diseases.
- He supports aid policies that promote education for all, and wants to increase spending on education in Africa to ensure that eight million children have access to education.
- He supports pressure from the UK to push for progress in world trade talks to ensure a trade agreement that benefits poor people and does not resort to protectionism.
- He supports the fight against AIDS, TB and Malaria and wants to implement the International Finance Facility for Immunisation, which aims to save five million lives over the next decade.
- He supports gender equality and women's empowerment and feels that promotion of these issues is vital for reducing poverty in developing nations.
• Crime
- He supports increased use of CCTV across the Isle of Dogs, in areas such as Timer Wharves and the Blackwall underpass to offer increased security to locals.
• Economic
- He supports local organisations such as Tower Hamlets Education Business Partnership which promote strong links between business and the local community.
• Education
- He supports student top-up fees which allow universities to charge students anything from £0 up to a maximum of £3,225 per year for tuition costs, with most UK universities choosing to charge the full fee to cover course costs.
• Energy
- He supports targets of making all new homes zero-carbon from 2016.
- He supports the establishment of an international framework to tackle climate change, which would include a shared vision for stabilising the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
- He supports the promotion of energy saving light bulbs and the phase out of old, high-energy bulbs by 2011.
• Environment
- He supports initiatives that improve air quality in his constituency and across urban areas in the UK. He believes that air pollution causes a variety of illnesses which need to be addressed and he is committed to reducing industrial pollution, improving vehicle standards and pushing for the use of cleaner vehicles.
- He supports policies that deliver reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and endorsed proposals put forward in the Climate Change Bill which sought to establish a long term legal framework for managing the shift to a low carbon economy, setting targets to cut carbon emissions by 26% to 32% by 2020 and to at least 60% by 2050.
• Equality and Civil Liberties
- He supports the introduction of obligatory identification (ID) cards for all British citizens, which aim to deliver a secure and simple proof of ID for all those legally entitled to live and work in the UK, using fingerprint biometrics to link people securely to their own identity.
- He supports equal gay rights and was an advocate of the introduction of civil partnerships, which give legal recognition to same-sex partners, with gay couples now having the same inheritance, pension and next-of-kin rights as married couples.
• Food and Agriculture
- He supports reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to promote sustainable and environmentally friendly farming within Europe without influencing competition levels.
- He supports ensuring the elimination of exotic animal diseases, endemic animal diseases, bovine TB and is committed to animal welfare issues and the implementation of an animal welfare programme.
• Healthcare
- He supports the introduction of foundation hospitals, which would see some NHS hospitals become 'foundation trusts' created to devolve decision-making from central government control to local organisations and communities, so that local NHS services are more responsive to the needs of local people.
• Housing and Welfare
- He opposes plans to remove protective measures for tenants that aim to protect private tenants. This includes the national register of landlords set up to allow tenants to make basic checks on their prospective landlords.
• Immigration
- He supports immigration policy that facilitates legitimate travel and entry to the UK, by welcoming those who bring skills, industry and creativity to the economy and society but takes a firm line with those who seek to enter the UK illegally.
- He supports the development of the UK Borders Agency to build new additional flexibility in the points based immigration system to create a simpler way for employers to bring in non-European Economic Area (EEA) interns and trainees.
• Infrastructure
- He supports universal access to today's broadband services at 2Mbps by 2012 and wants to establish an independent national fund to ensure maximum next generation broadband coverage, funded by a 50p monthly levy on fixed phone lines.
- He supports the creation of a simplified structure of rail fares and tickets types, with one name for each type of ticket across all operators.
- He supports the move to provide local authorities with more flexibility and powers to address congestion and improve local transport and buses.
• Judicial
- He supports the creation of a new Supreme Court to create a highly visible symbol of judicial authority, one which is accessible to the public.
- He supports reforms to the delivery of legal aid that will ensure the budget maintains efficient use of resources so that the most vulnerable people in society get legal help. This will be achieved by a stronger relationship being forged between the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Services Commission.
• Local Government
- He supports measures to increase transparency and strengthen public accountability of members of the House of Commons including an independent regulator for Parliamentary standards, a binding Code of Conduct for all Members of Parliament (MPs), reform of the system of MP's allowances, tougher rules for expenses claims and declaration of any additional income.
- He supports the development of the role that local councillors play within local government, whilst seeking to encourage people from a more diverse range of backgrounds to get involved in civic life.
- He supports policies that strengthen Regional Development Agencies to help them in supporting economic recovery and end the disparity in economic development between and within regions.
- He supports measures to strengthen disciplinary arrangements and increase accountability of members of the House of Lords, as well as supporting the broader reform of completing the process of removing the hereditary principle.
- He supports legislation to increase controls on unregulated local candidate election expenditure, to make political donations more transparent and to increase voter registration.
- He supports the lowering of the voting age to 16 to involve young people more actively in society and politics.
• Taxation
- He supports the use of the Child Tax Credit and the Working Tax Credit as methods of supporting families with children and those in work on low incomes. These tax reforms are aimed at tackling child poverty and making work pay.
- He supports taxation that supports low carbon growth of the economy, including an exemption for electric cars from company car tax and a 100% first year allowance for electric vans from 2010.
• Work and Labour
- He supports promoting local businesses in the East End of London and believes that the future prosperity of constituents hinges on the success of local business.
- He supports the work of the Canary Wharf Group and has backed the donation of large sums of money to local schools and the establishment of vital employment schemes such as Skills-match.
Source: Independently researched by Whistle from a number of online primary sources – party policy, individual politician website, verified press releases and news articles.
