Thank you  for inviting us here this morning to share your worship.   I’d like to thank my friend, Councillor Tina Valcarcel, one of our new Labour councillors – only elected last year and already doing great work in her community. Tina worships regularly at this church and I thank Tina for bringing us all together today.  

I’d like to thank every one of you for the work you do in our community.  I know this is a vibrant and thriving church, and I know how much you do to reach out and help the poor and the needy.  You work is valuable, and I thank you for it.   

I am proud to be Leader of the Council here in Lambeth.  This is a great place to be.  It’s one of the most diverse places on Earth.  People come together here from right across the world.  We live together, we learn from one another, we learn the value of difference.  And that diversity is our strength.   

But it brings challenges too.  Too many in our community are poor.  Too many have no work.  Too many of our young people lose their way in life.  But together, we can make a real difference.  We can put things right.   

Because you know, in some ways, the work of the church and the work of our Labour councillors is not always that different.  We are all here to make life better for people living in our community. 

We all want every child to have the best start in life, a proper education in a good local school, positive activities to keep them busy, and in time a good job.    

We all want every family to live in a good home, a home that is properly heated in winter, a home that’s safe, warm and dry, and a home in a neighbourhood where people get along and help one another.   

We all want to live in a society where what counts isn’t where you come from but where you’re going to. 

And we want to live in a society that measures our success not by the wealth of the richest, but by how much help we give to the poorest.   

As a Labour council, we’re working towards those aims – good schools, good homes, and a strong, fair society, with opportunity for all and help for those in need.  I know we share those goals.  That’s why I believe we can do so much more if we work together.   

Today, I thank you for inviting me here, and I offer you the hand of friendship so that we can work together to build a community that we can all be proud to live in.