GLOUCESTERSHIRE is a part of Britain where Labour needs to prove it is on people's side.

We face a government that is determined to inflict the most pain on those who can least afford to pay for the economic crash.

The government is cutting when it needs to be working out how to grow the economy – Gloucestershire faces tough times ahead.

In the face of this gloom I was inspired to learn about LIFT – a project that helps disabled and disadvantaged people in Gloucestershire get to school.

It is heartening to know that in this time of brutal cuts there are organisations which are determined to give vulnerable members of the county much-needed support.

For the young people at Tredworth Junior School who have benefited, it clearly makes an invaluable difference.

I fear the compassionless government in Westminster will fail to recognise projects like LIFT as they go about their attack on Gloucestershire's economy.

With its RDA scrapped, the South West will lose out on £145 million of investment alone, that's £28 per head of investment gone.

Since 2002 the South West RDA has created or safeguarded 43,600 jobs and helped set up 3,100 businesses as well as providing 130,000 people with new work related skills.

The current government wants to scrap this and have offered no plan for future growth – this isn't just a danger to growth, it's an attack on business.

In the South West plans for 21 schools to be refurbished or rebuilt under the Building Schools for the Future programme have been scrapped.

This not just unfair on our children but it is a major hit to local construction businesses too which up until the election were a huge source of growth for our economy. In the last election Labour lost support across all of society because people thought we were no longer on their side and didn't have clear enough ideas for the future.

The purpose of my candidacy for the leadership of the party is to put that right, and here's how.

On the economy, I would reduce the deficit by getting Britain growing and working, not by cutting the roots of Gloucestershire's economy.

The Tory cuts will hurt those least able to afford them and risk a long period of slow growth if not a second recession.

If elected leader of the Labour Party I will focus on returning Britain to full employment and achieving a fair deal for those who work the hardest.

I believe in a Britain of opportunity. That means world-class education and the guarantee of excellent health care for all. I will recruit the best teachers to the toughest schools, focusing pupils on learning rather than just on exams, and expanding higher education and apprenticeships.

I will prioritise public health, and target all health inequalities – not the needless and destructive reorganisation of the NHS put forward by the Coalition Government.

I believe in a Britain of more power for communities. Labour's devolution in Scotland, Wales and London was excellent, but our work is not finished.

I would give more power to communities over their public services and local government greater power to lead their communities.

Labour won't win again, and won't gain the trust of people in Gloucestershire, unless we offer the change Britain needs.