THE man who wants.to be Britain's next prime Minister visited New Addington on Tuesday to launch Labour's local election campaign.
Ed Miliband told a crowd of supporters at the Addington Community Centre, in Central Parade, that the Tories were "letting down" the country.
The Labour leader promoted policies including clamping down on the private housing rental sector and zero-hour contracts, and he reiterated his party's pledge to repeal the coalition's Health and Social Care Act
Backing Croydon Labour candidates, including shadow council leader Tony Newman and New Addington hopeful Oli Lewis, Mr Miliband said London felt like a "tale of two cities" and pledged to tackle rising inequality
He said: "The Tories want to say to people everything is fixed, everything is fine, and every time they say that it just refocuses in people's minds they have no idea about my life. They have no idea about the challenges families are facing; they just don't get it."
Highlighting Labour's manifesto pledge to make Croydon Council a living wage employer, he said: "We believe if you go out to work, you do all of those hours, you should not find yourself unable to make ends meet."
Labour would give tax incentives to employers to encourage them to pay the living wage but would not force councils to do so, he added.
Mr Miliband also restated Labour plans to ban letting agents from charging fees from tenants and to force landlords to offer three-year tenancies.
Speaking to the Advertiser, he said tenants would be able to get out of the agreement earlier if they wanted.
Asked if he had any plans to solve the problem of landlords unwilling to rent to tenants on benefits, he said it was "one of the issues we need to look at".
Mr Miliband added that Croydon, which has been the focus of much Labour campaigning, was a "key pointer" to the next General Election, and urged supporters to campaign hard.
He said: "It's a majority of four the Tories have at the moment. You knocking on doors might make all the difference."
