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I said at the start of this leadership contest that I was going to be straight with people about the really big issues facing Labour and facing the country. And one of those issues is the abysmal failure of successive governments to tackle the housing crisis.

We should be the Party that helps everyone to get on in life: apprentices and graduates; the unemployed and small business owners; the renters and the home-owners. But too many people at the election were left feeling that Labour didn’t have enough to offer them.

The truth is that the hopes of people at all levels of society are pretty much the same: a secure job; a decent home; a good standard of living; prospects for their kids; and proper care for their parents.

If we are to succeed as a country we need to make sure that people in work have well paid jobs, so that living standards can rise and everyone has the opportunity to get on.

An economy with more high-skill, high wage jobs will also mean that we collect more in taxes so that we can afford good quality public services and look after our parents and grand-parents.

It will also mean that our children and grand-children can have the best possible education and prospects for the future.

To deliver an economy where people have well paid jobs, we need to encourage businesses of every kind to thrive.

But businesses face a number of significant challenges.

Thursday May 7th 2015 - a night I won't forget in a hurry. After a full day of campaigning, I returned home to excitedly await the general election count, only to turn on the TV and witness the exit poll results - and this was a blow to say the least.

As a Parliamentary candidate standing in Kingswood - a top target seat for Labour, I spent two years solidly campaigning with an amazing organiser and agent, excellent council candidates and a brilliant, dedicated team of activists. Together we spoke to over 30,000 people in Kingswood, but our determination and hard work was simply not enough to return a Labour government.

Since that fateful night, there hasn't been a single morning when I've woken up not considering what went wrong. I have thought long and hard about the thousands of conversations we had; why our national messages didn't resonate and what we need to differently to win in 2020.

It's of course very complex, but there a few key things which stand out.

Today, the leadership candidates came to Brussels for the only hustings of the campaign to be held outside the UK. It was an opportunity, in front of MEPs and Labour supporters, to hear the candidates set out their vision for Labour, UK, and for the role that Europe can play for our future in the world. 

I have no doubt, after today, that Andy Burnham is the candidate with the clearest vision for the future – for a UK of high quality jobs fostered by successful new businesses, a UK where everyone has the opportunity to succeed and a reformed EU that can play a crucial part in delivering this vision. 

After George Osborne’s utter failure to deliver a “march of the makers”, the long-term future of exporters in the North West is now under threat. Productivity has fallen, Britain's trade deficit is growing  and the ability to address this has been undermined by short-termist political decisions, such as the chaotic abolition of Regional Development Agencies.

 We are in the midst of a housing crisis.  That sentence should create a sense of shock or panic, but has been used so often, it has become almost a cliché.

Speak to any Labour councillor - especially in London - and they will bring the housing crisis to life in much more vivid terms.  Parents sharing a bedroom with their toddlers, children with no space to do their homework, landlords letting out properties in appallingly dangerous conditions that cost a fortune, safe in the knowledge that if these tenants don’t like it, another desperate soul will be along soon. 

In May, we elected a Parliament with more lesbian, gay and bisexual MPs than anywhere else in the world.

We should be proud of that – but not complacent.

Our next Labour Party Leader needs to be a strong advocate of LGBT rights, and someone who can put us in a position to win again in 2020.

That’s why as a gay London councillor, Parliamentary candidate and Welsh Assembly candidate, I'm proud to be supporting Andy Burnham.

Andy is a staunch supporter of LGBT rights, and has always been a prominent voice for equality.

Every spring we see newspaper articles about the annual rush of young people to get into university.

Later in the summer there is another spate of articles about graduation days with pictures and stories rightly celebrating the success of students as they get their degrees.

But for thousands of British young people who choose a technical education over an academic there is no national celebration.

We hear little about the 50% of young people who do not go to university.

It is a telling silence.

Some of you may know that I’m running to be the next Leader of the Labour Party.

I am here today to tell you why I want the job and what I intend to do with it.

I am big believer in apprenticeships. And, after 14 years in Parliament, I think I have done mine.

Like any good apprentice, I have learnt from observing the best. But I have also witnessed their mistakes and had time to think what I would do differently.

Now I am ready to step forward to change Labour, to take it out of the ‘Westminster bubble’ and put it back in touch with ordinary people.

I am the right man for the right time.

We suffered a bruising defeat in the General Election just a month ago, and since then, we have been doing some painful soul-searching.

Three weeks ago this morning, Labour was waking up with a monumental headache.

And let’s be honest, it still hasn’t cleared.

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