Murad Qureshi Standing up for City & East

'We need an experienced City and East representative like Murad, who can hit the ground running. With his strong track record of effectively holding the London Mayor to account, he offers all the people of East London a campaigning GLA member who will deliver results from day one of his election.'  Cllr John Gray (& UNISON)

Many eligible voters have already take part in the election for the Greater London Assembly City & East Labour candidate but there is still another 2 weeks of the ballot to go. There is even a hustings arranged for next week!

"As well as choosing our next Leader, Deputy Leader and Mayoral candidate, as a member in City and East London you will also get the chance to choose who you want to represent you as Labour's candidate for the London Assembly.

Before you vote you can put the candidates to the test in a hustings on Wednesday 2 September from 7pm at Queen Mary University. This is your chance to put your questions to the candidates and hear them make their case for why the want to represent City and East London on the Greater London Assembly".

Thank you from Murad Qureshi AM

"An experienced candidate, who can stand-up for East London". Congratulations to UNISON Nominee, Murad Qureshi, for gaining a CLP nomination and being on the ballot paper for City & East.

The role of a London Assembly member is to represent their constituents and hold the Mayor to account. To do this effectively you have to be experienced, honest, organised and competent. Murad has these attributes. Below is his latest flyer.

    "Thank you the nomination.

As a sitting Assembly Member, l can get on with the job of standing up for City and East London straight away, for example through constituent work and scrutinising the Mayor. All this while making the case for more public resources for this very large and diverse constituency. Recent examples of scrutinising the Mayor include how he wasted council tax monies when he brought the water cannons and his denial of how money laundering in London is affecting the housing market. Constituent work include representing  Londoners against a huge development casting a shade over their homes and getting the Mayor to tackle underground tube noises for residents before the 24 hour service on the tube is running. Critically London’s population explosion will be greatly felt in City & East and it will need the infrastructure to cope. This case needs to be made now before a new Mayor comes in and as a sitting AM l am well placed to argue for transport infrastructural investment on the roads to the buses, a lot more housing initiatives for East Enders to be housed, protecting & defending public services like the Police & Fire Service - and making sure all this doesn’t adversely impact on peoples quality of life like breathing polluted air. To do this, l will work with our colleagues in local government in all three Labour held boroughs and the City of London; the wider labour movement like the Unions and Co-op Party; party members from all the CLPs and take a strategic approach to the issues important to all of us. MURAD QURESHI AM

Howard Dawber & the spirit of the East End

This is a touching & gracious message sent by Howard to all Party members in East London (Howard
 is on right of picture outside West Ham CLP selection meeting)

"This is the last email from me.

I have failed to secure a nomination from a Constituency, so I will not be on the shortlist for the City and East London Assembly seat.

I would like to thank everyone who supported me, voted for me and particularly those who stood up at meetings to propose me, or asked their friends to come and support.

It's been a wonderful experience and I have met some great people.

It was an honour to get 152 votes in total across three different boroughs, and to come second three times to different very strong local candidates.

There are some good comrades left in the race, most of whom are friends of mine, so it would be wrong to single out anyone.

Having the chance to represent the people of East London is a huge privilege and responsibility.

This is the most exciting and dynamic part of London, which can claim to be the capital city of planet earth.

The people of the east end are the most entrepreneurial, resilient and inventive I have ever known.

It is the spirit that inspired the suffragettes who used to meet under the lamppost in Barking, the courage of the Bryant and May Matchgirls who went on strike over their conditions, the courage of the Poplar rent strikers, the dock workers, the shipbuilders who formed the first Trade Unions.

It is the spirit that got the East end through the blitz and then gave the women at Ford's in Dagenham the strength to fight for equal pay.

The spirit of men like Will Crooks, who was born in a workhouse but went on to be a Labour Councillor and MP.

The spirit of women like Annie Clara Huggett, who kept campaigning for Women's votes even though she was arrested several times.

The spirit of local Bangladeshi people in Tower Hamlets who stood up to the National Front in the 1970s and 1980s.

And the spirit of Labour activists who stood up to the BNP just a few years ago and kicked them out of Barking and Dagenham Council. For this is the East of London - where local residents came together to defend their Jewish neighbours at the Battle of Cable Street.

And where local people defended their German neighbours from reprisals during World War Two.

Where young and old came together to welcome the world at the 2012 Olympic Games.

I am sure that whoever wins the selection will live up to the spirit of East London.

I hope that they get everyone's full support.

With a Tory Government and a Tory Mayor, we can't afford the luxury of splits and factions within the party.

We need to be one team and one campaign after September.

In the meantime from Barking to Bethnal Green and Docklands to Dagenham, we need to make sure we have a Labour Mayor in May next year so I will be working hard to try to make sure we are in the best possible shape to take on the Tories.

We also need to campaign to keep a universal postal service and to stop the Tories destroying Royal Mail. 

Sign up to support the CWU campaign at:

http://www.cwu.org/peoplespost.html

That's all from me. I hope to see some of you soon.

Fraternally,

HOWARD

Howard Dawber for City and East

http://www.dawber.london/

UNISON Nominates Murad for City & East London

I was pleased that Greater London UNISON Labour Link has given a supportive nomination to Murad Qureshi for the directly elected GLA seat City & East.

Murad has been an existing Party list Assembly member since 2004 and before that was a London Councillor.  He has also worked in Housing and regeneration in East London.  Murad was part of the team that designed and built in my opinion some of the finest modern social housing homes I have ever seen.

He is a member of my branch and has been very supportive of UNISON over the years and recently spoke at and hosted our Annual General Meeting at City Hall.

Murad would be an excellent replacement for John Biggs who is stepping down after winning the election for Mayor of Tower Hamlets.