Since 2010, the Government has cut its funding to Islington LBC in half: a reduction of £150m, putting Islington in the top ten worst hit areas in the country and leaving every household in the borough £1,000 worse off. In the 14th most deprived local authority area in the country, with the highest level of children growing up in workless households, these cuts threaten to divide an already unequal community.

Despite having to make unprecedented savings, we are still finding ways to make a difference. For example, Islington’s GCSE results have jumped from 143rd out of 151 local authorities in 2010 to 34th now. We have seen more than 1,800 new affordable homes built in the borough since 2010. We have secured a big fall in youth unemployment and helped hundreds of parents back into work.

We have had to make some tough choices though, such as raising council tax this year by 40p a week after a five-year freeze, and there have been some redundancies in our workforce. But we have got the right priorities: saving, for now, all our libraries, children’s centres, pools and leisure centres; salvaging our resident support scheme for the most vulnerable from government cuts to local welfare funding; and maintaining adult social care for people with moderate needs.