Ballot papers for the Labour Party’s leadership election were sent to members this week and, as the new leader of the only major party in Opposition to the devolution-friendly coalition, the winning candidate will come under swift pressure to outline his or her views on future local public services.

Over the next two weeks, The MJ gives each of Labour’s five leadership candidates an early opportunity to outline their local service priorities, devolution plans and ‘localist’ credentials.

This week, the bookies’ favourite to become Labour’s next leader, former foreign secretary and local government minister, David Miliband, and former health secretary, Andy Burnham, present their thoughts on the increasingly crucial local policy battleground.

I am standing to be the next Labour leader because I want the Labour Party to defeat the Tories, win back power and form a Labour Government again.

No movement has done more to improve the lives of ordinary people – creating the NHS, building the welfare state and introducing the National Minimum Wage – than our Labour movement.

And there is no greater danger to these achievements than a Tory Government. This Conservative coalition is bringing the wrong change to our country.

That is why the fight back against the Tories must begin now at a local level. We have crucial local elections next year that we need to win. As Labour leader, I would support our local councillors in standing up against the Tory cuts and offering a credible alternative at a local level, with local councils leading the way in showing what Labour can deliver.

Without a Labour Government, Labour councils will be innovators for our next manifesto, putting policies into practice, and showing how Labour can bring about the change Britain actually needs.

As Labour leader, I want to strengthen local government. We have amazing councillors across the country –and through their tireless campaigning, they bucked the national result by increasing the number of local councillors by almost 400 and gaining control of 17 more councils.

I am proud and humbled to have the support of so many of these outstanding councillors.

I am being backed by more than 100 Labour councils and Labour group leaders in major towns and cities across the UK, including Birmingham, Newcastle, Norwich, Bolton, Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Peterborough, Scarborough, Sunderland, Telford and Wolverhampton – key battlegrounds for us at the next election.

If elected, I am committed to building a strong two-way relationship between councillors and the leadership of the party, both in and out of government.

I would have Labour’s leader in local government in the shadow cabinet. This is just a first step in making sure the relationship between councillors and MPs is strong.

 I believe in a Britain where power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few, which is why I want to look at putting power into the hands of local councils in towns and cities across the country, such as we have done in London, Wales and Scotland.

We owe it to the people of Britain – to the men and women seeking work, to the pensioner worried about police cuts, to the student with no university place – to be the change Britain needs, a movement for change both nationally but crucially locally as well.

David Miliband is MP for South Shields, and was foreign secretary in the last Labour Government