Finchley And Golders Green: Labour's Sarah Sackman Wins

Transcript

00:00Thank you, thank you, thank you to the returning officer, my fellow candidates, all those who

00:11volunteered at polling stations, the police and the staff at this count. The country has

00:16called for change and we, as the Labour Party, have a duty to deliver. People have given

00:23us a mandate and a responsibility to build a different society. A society where nurses

00:30aren't forced to visit food banks, where women and girls aren't afraid to walk home at night,

00:37where we act when we see the planet on fire, and where we welcome rather than demonise

00:43those like my ancestors who come to this country fleeing persecution. We have a responsibility

00:56to restore people's trust in politics. In recent years, our democracy has been shown

01:02to be fragile. Politics in this country has become a darker place. We have witnessed the

01:08murder of two MPs, and Finching Golders Green has felt this fragility in a particular way.

01:15Mike Freer, my predecessor, was forced to step down due to the abuse he faced. We may

01:22have had our differences over policy, but we should have had the opportunity to face

01:26each other at the ballot box. I pay tribute to his many years of dedicated service and

01:33work for the people of Finching Golders Green. And I'm grateful too to my fellow candidates

01:44who were able to fight this election based on our ideas and the way in which they've

01:48conducted this campaign. I am so honoured that the people of Finching Golders Green

01:54have put their trust in me. This place where I was born and raised. This place that represents

02:02so much about what is great about this country. Values of hard work, aspiration, looking out

02:09for your neighbour, and a place where we see our diversity as our strength. The last 14

02:15years have put a strain upon those values, but we have shown that as a community that

02:20hope will triumph over hate. Today, my community, like so many across the country, is crying

02:27out for hope. After I lost in 2015, I felt that hope drain away. Against a backdrop of

02:35populism and a Brexit, the Labour Party lost its way. In particular, it let down the Jewish

02:41community. The Labour Party needed to change and under Keir Starmer's leadership, it has

02:47changed. I'm glad that a Labour Party can once again, a changed Labour Party, be a beacon

02:53of hope to all communities that make up this special place. Now I promise to be your local

02:59champion and your public servant, whomever you voted for. It's a promise I make for the

03:05young woman in Crookwood who I met holding down two cleaning jobs just to keep the heating on.

03:10It's a promise I make to the mother on the Grange Estate with mould in her flat. It's a

03:16promise I make to the elderly couple who have waited over a year for their vital operations.

03:22I promise to be a public servant so that my daughters and all our children have the

03:28future that they deserve. Thank you to my beautiful daughters and my husband for being

03:33so patient in this campaign. I promise as your mum, your wife and as your MP,

03:39I will be keeping up our traditions and I will never miss a Friday night dinner.