Surgery, Canvass then Forest Walk

Busy day. Cycled down to my Newham Council advice surgery in Stratford Library then joined Forest Gate North ward colleagues for a local door knock. Which went well, I experienced a mostly very positive approach to Labour, which I think is down to the excellent local Councillors, Rachel and Liz. It was nice to get back campaigning after a couple of weeks off due to Conference and annual leave. The cleaning and communal repair standards of the housing blocks we visited was mostly good. 

Afterwards, since it was such a pleasant, warm and sunny day, Gill and I walked from home to Chingford through Epping Forest. We took the train back home and then had delicious pub grub at the nearby Holly Tree, where we came across other Labour folk including the very quiet and retiring, Cllr Alan Griffiths. 

A good day. 

West Hammers on tour: Wellingborough By election 15 Feb 24

This morning four of us (Alan, Ash, Me and Varghese - all of whom live in the West Ham Parliamentary constituency) drove down to Wellingborough to support the Labour Candidate, Gen Kitchen (former Newham Councillor) in this important by election. 

It took under 2 hours to get there and we had been directed to a community centre which was a campaign hub. It was thankfully, very well organised and we were speedily booked in, given leaflets and shown a video by Gen and the Labour Party GS, David Evans, on local issues and campaigning techniques.  There was also sandwiches and drinks available. 

There was no hanging about and we were soon allocated a Labour Party "board runner" to take us "on the knocker" and remind voters that this is election day and to get out the Labour vote. 

We bumped into Rita (another West Hammer) who was campaigning with "Sikhs 4 Labour". 

Kizzy led us on our first canvass session. She is a Labour Party media organiser and this was the first time she had led a canvass team and she did a great job. We went to the Finedon ward which comprised predominantly of traditional terraced houses, but there was many blocks of flats which were converted from shoe wear factories, which used to be a major employer in the area. 

The canvassing went well but we were approached by a shop workers who asked us if she was able to vote since she had no photo ID. She was disabled and had no passport or driving licence. Sadly she was not able to vote but we did suggest that she apply for a postal vote for next election. She was angry about being deprived of her right to vote and had wanted to support Gen. 

Another elderly voter told us that she had gone to the polling station but got turned away since she had forgotten to bring her photo ID with her. She said she would go back but she was clearly frail and not well. I suspect that she too will be deprived of her vote. 

We only saw one canvasser for any of the opposition parties (it may have been the Tory candidate but we were not sure). There was in the distance a mobile loudspeaker which I believe was ranting for a far right party but could not make out what they were saying.  

One person stopped me and asked me about Gen and was very supportive of Labour but said he was worried because he had been told that Keir Starmer had been the "lawyer" for the sex abuser, Jimmy Saville. I assured him that this is totally untrue and it is a shame that opposition parties are spreading such lies and misinformation. He seemed content with this. 

We stopped for coffee and cake at a local shop then went out again this time with Rob as our "Board Runner".  Good to meet up again at the community centre, with the Leader of Greenwich Council, Anthony Okereke. 

This 2nd session was now later in the day and we found more people at home after work and it became clear that many residents had either voted already or were about to vote and they were well motivated and keen to vote for Labour. 

One lady however, told me that she had "forgotten" who she and her partner had voted for that morning. Hmmnn... I suspect she not vote for us. 

Alan drove us there and back. According to Google fit I walked 20,343 steps today (8.73 miles). 

Result is due around 4am tomorrow morning. Fingers and toes crossed for Gen and her team. Will update tomorrow. 

Good luck to Damien Egan in the Kingswood byelection. Another great candidate. 

Update: Great news @Gvkitchen & @damienegan both elected! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68313421

Labour Local Government Association Conference 2024: Day 2

 

Picture collage from yesterday evening and day 2 of the Conference held in Warwick. Labour is now the largest political party in UK local government. 

There was a number of workshops, formal speeches and panel debates. It was informative and interesting. A great but rarely found combination in municipal politics! 

Powerful speech by our deputy Labour Party leader, Angela Rayner, stressing that Labour will fund councils on the need of its residents not on the politics of its governing party. Unlike this Tory Government. 

Former Council leader and now MP Jim McMahon pointed out that local government had lost 900,000 workers since 2010 due to cuts but central government had gained 900,000 workers. A massive centralisation of power and resources. 

I asked a question of Shadow Social Care Minister, Andrew Gwynne about the role of local government in the future "fair pay" (sectorial bargaining) of the care sector by the Labour "New Deal for Working Families". All of the panel made reference to the importance of making sure that care workers get decent pay and conditions. Andrew made it clear that while "New Deal" was not part of his portfolio (I should have asked Angie) he is sure that local government will play an important role. Which makes sense to me. 

It was also an opportunity this weekend to share with the many unison members presence an early celebration of "Love Unions" week (starts tomorrow 12 Feb)

Canning Town South Canvass with Lyn Brown MP

 

On Saturday I went canvassing in Canning Town South ward with our local MP, Lyn Brown and Unmesh Desai, our local London Assembly member and Councillors Rohit Das Gupta and Alan Griffiths.  

The ward has been transformed in recent times by the building of so many blocks of flats. However, there are still many traditional low rise homes such as Jude Street. I always enjoy knocking on doors and talking to people. 

We did get an ear bashing from one resident about the failure to deal with damage done by tree roots to pavements and driveways but there was clearly a problem. Apart from that, it was a very successful canvass (also no rain!) which was followed by coffee and chinwag. 

Great to see new faces on the campaign trail. 

A minutes silence for David Amess MP

Picture from start of Newham London Full Council meeting in Old Town Hall Stratford. Next we had a minutes silence in memory of murdered MP, David Amess. Then Cllr Griffiths, who knew David gave an emotional tribute followed by fellow St Bons "old boy" Cllr Terry Paul.

West Hammers help out in East Ham Central By Election

Yesterday evening I went out on the Labour doorstep with our West Ham MP, Lyn Brown and Cara (the infamous Labour attack dog) to support Farah Nazeer, our Labour candidate in East Ham Central by election on Thursday May 6 (and our London Mayoral Candidate, Sadiq Khan and local East London Assembly member, Unmesh Desai).

We joined local Councillors Susan Masters and Alan Griffiths (Agent). Despite a mixture of sunshine and showers the canvass went really well with pretty extraordinary high levels of Labour support. 

We also came across some beautiful urban gardens. 

Using the Labour Party mobile "doorstep" appears to work really well. No more soggy paper canvass sheets to try and fill out in the rain. 

On the knocker for Farah, Sadiq & Unmesh in East Ham Central By election

This afternoon I joined the 2pm Labour team canvassing for the by-election in East Ham Central ward. Stephen Timms MP and the ward election agent, Cllr Alan Griffiths, were the only ones to turn up for this session. I had been out with the fantastic candidate, Farah Nazeer, last Thursday with West Ham MP, Lyn Brown.   

I was impressed how so many people recognised Stephen and said hello and thanked him for his support for them in the past! This also meant that many "door knocks" turned into case work sessions for Stephen. I could see that residents were genuinely pleased that we were out there speaking to them about their concerns.