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Labour candidates face hustings Labour candidates face hustings
(about 2 hours later)
The candidates for the Labour Party's deputy leadership are going head to head at a hustings event. The candidates for the Labour Party's deputy leadership have gone head to head at a hustings event.
The six hopefuls are facing off at a session in Coventry. The six candidates made speeches and answered public questions on topics which included anti-social behaviour and the National Health Service.
Gordon Brown, who is to take over as Prime Minister on June 27, will tour a factory near Coventry before speaking at the hustings. Gordon Brown, who is to take over as Prime Minister on June 27, toured a nearby factory before also speaking at the hustings in Coventry.
Earlier Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain told GMTV a gap "had opened up" between the government and Labour's grassroots members. A heckler yelled "Get the troops out now", but was immediately escorted out.
The six candidates are Mr Hain, Education Secretary Alan Johnson, Justice Minister Harriet Harman, Development Secretary Hilary Benn, party chairwoman Hazel Blears, and backbencher Jon Cruddas. The six candidates are Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain, Education Secretary Alan Johnson, Justice Minister Harriet Harman, Development Secretary Hilary Benn, party chairwoman Hazel Blears, and backbencher Jon Cruddas.
Mr Hain said: "There's been a gap opened up between the government and the grassroots members, trade unionists and backbench MPs, and you've seen that in the divisions on the floor of the House of Commons. At the hustings, the MPs were also asked what was the one issue that Labour needed to tackle in order to win the next general election.
"I think the deputy leader's role is absolutely vital in reconnecting the government with the grassroots and being the umbilical cord between the government, the cabinet and the grassroots of the party." Vital issues
'Get message out' Mr Cruddas said "an intensification around people's insecurities at work" needed to be addressed, which were linked in to "chronic abuses amongst landlords and criminal gangs".
Labour Party chairman Hazel Blears told the BBC's Sunday AM programme said she was prepared to deal with "tough issues". Housing was top of the agenda for Mr Benn, who said more homes needed to be built if a "big, big problem" was to be avoided.
"I believe the job of deputy leader is about working for the party, taking the message out relentlessly over the next two years, full-time, focused on building the party and winning the next election," she said. Mr Hain said that inequality was "the biggest challenge we face as a government". He mentioned dealing with housing issues, investing in teaching skills, and tackling a "two-tier labour market".
"I am prepared to talk about some of the tough issues. I spent three years in the Home Office doing crime, anti-social behaviour and counter-terrorism and I think people want us to tackle immigration, they want us to tackle crime. Meanwhile, Mr Johnson said the party's focus should be social mobility. It is harder now, he said, to escape the shackles of a deprived upbringing in the UK "than in practically any other country in the world".
"I think people now work harder than probably they've ever worked before, and they're prepared to do that but they want to know that the system is fair as well." Ms Blears added that people getting on in their lives would "win us the next election". People wanted "a better job, better home, better education, certainly a better future for the next generation", she said.
Ms Harman said Labour had to "win back the trust and the confidence of the British people". She said the issue was not just about policies but "how we do our politics" and that "we've got to clean up our act".