Ben Dackerman
I joined Labour prior to the 1997 election when the Party had spent too many years in opposition; after 2010 I, and the country, cannot afford to wait too many years to get Labour back into government.

I believe in the words printed on the back of the membership card, ‘by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone.’

I am a Labour member because it is the party of a positive and progressive future.

Genevieve Flight
I joined the Labour Party because I strongly believe in Labour values which include Fairness, Community cohesion, Family life, Health, Equality, Diversity, Security, Social justice, Peace, Welfare of everyone, the Environment and regeneration.

Having been a Union activist for over 15 years, I have come to realise that it is only the Labour Party that is willing to stand up and fight for the welfare of the working class people in Britain and for me joining the Party as a member has given me the opportunity to be able to stand up and fight for community survival.

Kirstin Hay
The diversity of people I have come across, and the friends I have made by being an activist in the Labour Party is far beyond that which I could imagine. Being able to debate, and listen to people I respect talking about subjects that I am passionate about, especially equality issues, has been another brilliant opportunity getting involved has brought.

I first got interested in politics as a means to distract myself from revising for exams, but I was soon gripped. I could see strong women taking important roles like Harriet Harman and Jacqui Smith, proud to call themselves feminists, proving that leading lights of the Labour Party shared my drive for equality and diversity.

Despite supporting the Party (and having heated debates with Tories about how much better Labour’s policies were for the country), I only actually joined with a prod on twitter from my Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the 2010 general election. I haven’t really stopped since then – getting involved with the leadership election, London Young Labour, LGBT Labour, and of course my constituency Party.

Milli Patel
I believe in a fair society where everyone can fulfil their potential no matter what their background. There are many charities, faith groups and local campaigning organisations that do great work to promote fairness. However, I believe that Labour is the only organisation in our country which can fundamentally deliver fairness for everyone.

For example the last Labour government introduced a National Minimum Wage and raised it, created 85,000 more nurses, 32,000 more doctors, gave father’s paternity leave for the first time, introduced Sure Start Children’s Centres and the Equality and Human Rights commission, started winter fuel payments to pensioners, introduced child tax credit and free entry to national museums and galleries. Labour introduced the Freedom Pass for over-60s, free nursery places for every three and four year old. Created over 36,000 more teachers in England and 274,000 more support staff and teaching assistants.

This is why I am proud to be a Labour Party supporter.

Charles Smith
I believe that if we invest in our young people at each stage of their lives, from nursery through to higher education and beyond, that we can develop a fairer and stronger society.

I want to see that everyone in our community, irrespective of the level of their parents’ income or where they come from, has the same opportunities and can go on to fulfill their potential. That’s why I’m Labour, and why I feel so passionately about working for people in my local community.

Jason Thomas Williams
I joined the Labour Party because of the Party’s commitment to social justice and equality.

As a school governor I could see the real difference Labour made to education with record levels of literacy and numeracy in school.

Labour has always been the party of progress and the many and not the few. From introducing the first ever national minimum wage to the introduction of civil partnerships Labour has delivered on a fairness agenda.

Will Thomson
I joined the Party in the 1960s as I believe in Labour. I just believe Labour is the only party who will make a better society for people. We may fail sometimes but failure is better than doing nothing.

It’s no good moaning, people have got to stand up and be counted. Things get better if people make them better; have a mind of your own. If something is wrong, don’t be afraid to speak out.

Guil Winchester
I first joined the Labour Party in 1964 in the run-up to the General Election in which Harold Wilson ended “Thirteen years of Tory rule”.

In the eighties Margaret Thatcher used the money from North Sea oil to fund the unemployment bill and in parts of the country an entire generation of school leavers were unable to find work. Today we again have a government actively trying to reduce wages and benefits by creating unemployment.

They are the same old Tories and we need to end what is increasingly looking like the most right wing government I have yet seen.