Robin Wales - Political Career

Political Career

Wales has spent the majority of his political career in Newham as leader and Mayor of the council.

Wales and other East London Leaders, as well as the Mayor of London, have claimed to be working towards achieving Convergence; meaning the improvement of the social and economic chances of people in the East End, raising them to the London average. This requires increasing employment, improving health and reducing poverty.

Wales has said he is committed to helping residents benefit from economic development in Newham, particularly in terms of employment and skills. He names the Westfield development in Stratford as fundamental for securing the future prosperity of the area. He is often cited as believing the Olympics forms only one part of the transformation of Newham and the wider East End of London. Other key developments include the regeneration site at Canning Town and Custom House and in the Royal Docks and Silvertown Quays.

Wales has personally championed Workplace to business partners, emphasising its close relationships with employers to understand their needs as well as a highly personalised approach to enabling people get into employment. Since 2007 Workplace has reportedly helped over 13,000 local people get jobs.

Wales believes that local employment opportunities are a critical success factor of regeneration projects; and is something that not all regeneration projects deliver. He has named Canary Wharf and the Olympic Delivery Authority’s construction of the Olympic Park as two examples of where local people have benefitted less than hoped from the job opportunities created .

Employment is a key theme in the political vision set out by Wales and publicly launched in the pamphlet Quid pro quo, not status quo. Quid pro quo. Why we need a welfare state that builds resilience (2011.)

The pamphlet outlines his approach to achieving Convergence. The concept of resilience (broken down into three dimensions: personal; community; and economic resilience) is presented as the embodiment of the various strands of this approach.

Wales defines the Resilience approach to policy is one which recognises that personal skills, experiences, environment and upbringing are factors shaping an individual or community’s resilience; which encompasses measures of its prosperity, cohesion, aspiration and ability to cope with setbacks. It also intends to recognise that personal responsibility is important in building successful, resilient communities and aims to ask more of people as citizens.