Redbridge Sports and Leisure Centre in Barkingside today became the springboard for the Labour Party’s local and European election campaign, with leader Ed Miliband pledging to ban lettings agents’ fees for tenants if he wins in 2015.

He said he was “proud” to be in Redbridge and paid tribute to everyone who works so hard for the community.

Labour councillors are looking to wrest control of the local authority from the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives when residents go to the polls this month.

Though the Labour leader’s pledges today - also including a promise to make three-year tenancies standard - relate to national politics, he told the Ilford Recorder it was important to get the “framework right”.

Mr Miliband could not confirm whether any of the 200,000 homes his Labour government would build every year would be built in Redbridge.

He said: “That is going to be a matter for local authorities. What we need to do is get the framework right.”

Wes Streeting, Labour parliamentary candidate for Ilford North, was also at the campaign launch.

“From our point of view, it’s a real endorsement of what we’re doing that we’ve got the Labour leader coming down here,” he said.

Redbridge Council leader Keith Prince, a Conservative, said he was “delighted” that Mr Miliband was visiting the borough.

“As assets go he’s one of the worst assets the Labour Party has.

“If that’s the best they can do then happy days.”