West Ham Labour Party Nomination for Leader, Deputy & City & East Thursday 23rd July 2015

"You are invited to West Ham CLP’s all member meeting to nominate our candidates for Leader and Deputy Leader and our candidate to stand for City and East London constituency for the London Assembly in 2016.

When and where:
When: 7.30pm on Thursday 23 July
Where: Vicarage Lane Community Centre, Govier Close, E15 4HW

What will happen at the meeting?
Information about all the candidates for all three positions will be available at the meeting. You can find out more about the candidates for Leader and Deputy Leader by clicking here. If you want to ensure the meeting considers a particular candidate please come ready to propose that candidate.

Members will then have a chance to discuss the merits of each of the proposed candidate for that position. After the discussion all members at the meeting will be able to vote on who they would like our CLP to nominate/select. We will be using the single transferable vote (preference) system. There will be three votes (for Leader, Deputy Leader and London Assembly) at the meeting.

We'd really like to welcome new members - as well as debating and voting, there will be a chance to meet other members and supporters. We will have food available for a small donation. And we will, of course, be holding a raffle...

After the meeting
Every member (and supporter) of the Labour party (whether at the meeting or not) will then receive a postal vote for each of these three elections in mid-August with the results being announced mid-September

The small print...
To take part in the branch meeting and the all-members ballot in this selection you must have joined the Labour Party on or before 1 July 2015. Please bring your membership card with you to help us check your membership quickly. In addition, you must not be in arrears with your membership subscription. If you have any concerns about your membership email us now.

Any disputes on eligibility that cannot be resolved by the Constituency Party will be referred to the London Labour Party for decision.

Look forward to seeing you on 23 July. If you have any questions about the event please get in touch.

Best wishes

Julianne Marriot

Vice Chair
West Ham Labour party

twitter @westhamlabour
email westhamlabour@gmail.com
web westhamlabour.wordpress.com

(I picked this poster because I overheard a young couple discussing it on the underground recently)

Labour candidate for City and East: Greater London Assembly

There is an ongoing selection process to replace London Assembly Member, John Biggs, who has been elected as Mayor of Tower Hamlets and will be stepping down from his City and East London seat. 

There are 18 candidates!

Greater London UNISON Labour Link will be considering who to nominate (we will always usually seek to nominate a member of UNISON in the first place)

West Ham CLP will decide its nomination at an all members meeting at Vicarage Lane Community Centre, E15 on Thursday 23 July.

"Candidates for City and East GLA seat on the long list require a nomination from at least one of the parliamentary constituencies that comprise the City and East area (City of London, Bethnal Green & Bow, Poplar & Limehouse, East Ham, West Ham, Barking and Dagenham & Rainham). The shortlisted candidates are:

Howard Dawber
Feryal Demirci
Unmesh Desai
Ibrahim Dogus
Carlo Gibbs
Sukhninder (Rocky) Gill
Ross Hatfull
Lisa Homan
Ashton McGregor
Bevan Powell
Murad Qureshi
Mandy Richards
Sam Russell
Cate Tuitt
Bill Turner
Abdal Ullah
Motin Uz-Zaman
Patrick Vernon"

(hat tip Tower Hamlets Labour)

Update: Bill Turner has now withdrawn.

London Labour Housing Group at Tower Hamlets Federal Branch meeting

This evening I was at the Tower Hamlets Labour Party Federal branch meeting of Bethnal Green North, Mile End and Globe Town and Weaver wards. On  behalf of the new London Labour Housing Group to talk about the LHG and its new London branch.  I use to work as a housing officer in Weavers and Globe Town.

I was a little late (apologies) because a City and East GLA 2012 campaign meeting beforehand took longer than expected.

It took place in St Margaret's House, Bethnal Green and was well attended (and chaired by Jemima Olchawski). There was a bit of a mix up about what I was to say, since the branch were expecting me to speak on their Housing and Affordable Rents debate while I was expecting to speak about the London Labour Housing Group.  However, I think it went okay.  Housing is a huge issue in Tower Hamlets, even more than the rest of the London.

I explained how progressives need to win the "Battle of Ideas" in Housing and that if you are interested in fighting this battle you ought to consider joining the LHG.  I had to rush off after 30 minutes to go to my West Ham ward meeting to give my Councillor report.  Speakers are available from the branch to attend Labour Party meetings and explain more about the Labour Housing Group.  You can join here.

At my ward meeting we discussed the future ballot of public service workers over possible strike action to save decent pension schemes. We hope to get the West Ham Labour Party banner to the planned March and Rally on November 30th. (picture of Tower Hamlets LP banner at 75th Cable Street rally last Sunday)

Explaining Tory “Dog Whistle” Politics in London

Last night, we had as our guest speaker at Labour Party General Committee (GC), London Assembly member, John Biggs. John represents “City & East” consistency which is made up of the City of London, Tower Hamlets, Newham and Barking & Dagenham. Some points from his address I thought were important (my interpretation): –

With regard to the current allegations made against the Mayor, Ken Livingstone. John pointed out he is the deputy Chair of the London Development Agency (LDA) which is at the centre of (what I believe to be largely malicious) allegations made by the Tory “Evening Standard”.

There has been more than 600 projects funded by the LDA. Given the “challenging” nature of many of these schemes it is inevitable that some will fail. Such project’s takes up less than 1% of its funding.

The allegations are in reality what are called “Dog Whistle politics” as practiced by conservatives in Australia. It is no coincidence that the current allegations are mainly against black led projects and leaders. This is in order to polarise white voters and frighten them into not voting for Labour.

Recorded crime has gone down in London. More needs to be done. But one obvious reason for this reduction is the increase in the numbers of Police and the introduction of dedicated teams of regular Police and Community Support Officers in every London ward. While this reduction is due in part to the work of a London Mayor and assembly members. However, it is also due to a partnership between the Police and local Councils and their communities.

In London we have a number of very large, single deck “bendy buses”. The Bendy bus service 25, which goes though much of East London, is one of the busiest routes in London with 22 million passenger journeys per year. Buses are a “bread and butter” issue since many low paid workers cannot afford to travel on the tube or railway. There are problems on “bendy buses” with fare evasion, anti-social behaviour and overcrowding. However, there are number of sensible initiatives to tackle these problems. Such random spot checks on a whole bus by the Police and fare inspectors.

John talked about the various significant environmental issues being tackled by the Mayor and the GLA. He also acknowledged that he had always argued for greater powers for the Labour assembly over scrutiny of the Mayor, but the government had disagreed.

He concluded by re-instating that we need to maximise the Labour vote in London on May 1 to keep Ken as Mayor; Stop the BNP gaining a seat and send a national message to smug Cameron and the Tories that they will be beaten.

We also later had a lively Parliamentary report and Q&A with our MP Lyn Brown.

Hope Not Hate in 2008: Beating the BNP in London

After work yesterday I went to a Searchlight meeting at the House of Commons, held on “Beating the BNP in London”. Frank Dobson MP chaired, speakers included Jon Cruddas MP, Megan Dobney (SETUC) and Nick Lowles (Searchlight). As you would expect there was a good attendance and range of people present.

Afterwards I went to a West Ham Labour Party Campaign meeting, where we had invited our “City & East” London Assembly member John Biggs, to talk to us about campaign issues. The BNP came up as well since Barking and Dagenham is also in “City & East” constituency (City of London, Tower Hamlets and Newham).

There is a real risk that the BNP will win seats in the London Assembly. Last time they got 4.8% of the vote and under the PR list system they only needed 5% to get a seat. If they get 8% they could get 2 seats, 11% 3 seats. The BNP themselves are predicting 3 seats. In the last GLA election 2004 which was held at the same time as the European election, the UK Independence Party got 8.2% and 2 seats. Since then UKIP has collapsed and it is likely that the BNP will get some of their votes. Hopefully these sobering facts will concentrate minds.

Backing Ken Livingstone for London Mayor 2008

The London Labour Party has launched a website for the re-election of London Mayor Ken Livingstone. So far the website.

KenLivingstone.com only has a request for donations and to "sign-on" box to enable activists to sign up for email alerts. More to follow.

“Ken Livingstone is committed to securing the long-term success of our capital, making sure that every Londoner is able participate in that success – and protecting our environment so that London's success is sustainable.

We'll be campaigning hard to ensure that London remains on the right course and that Londoners understand the choices they'll face in the election for Mayor on 1 May 2008”.

During the election campaign I will also be doing my best to encourage trade unionists to support Ken and the excellent existing Labour GLA member for City and East, John Biggs, as well as looking to increase the Labour vote and turnout, not least in order to prevent the BNP from getting a seat.

Interestingly Galloway has indicated that he will stand for the GLA as well this year! Should be fun. Email Hat tip to AG