East London Labour Mayoral Hustings: #YesWeKhan

This afternoon there was a London Labour Party Mayoral candidate hustings at the historic Old Town Hall in Stratford, East London 

West Ham MP, Lyn Brown, local Councillors and other Party supporters held a stall outside on behalf of candidate, Sadiq Khan and encouraged local Labour voters to sign up and become "Party Supporters" for only £3. 

I had volunteered with local West Ham CLP members to help out with the registration of people at the door coming to the event (and sell them raffle tickets - see picture of the dynamic trio with back drop of Keir Hardie statute, who was elected as the first ever Labour MP in this same town hall in 1892). 

All six Labour mayoral candidates were present. The newly elected Tower Hamlets Executive Mayor, John Biggs, chaired the meeting. 

Since I was on the door I missed the beginning of the hustings and then left to go back after 30 minutes. My initial thoughts were that the panel all looked a little nervous and very serious. 

Diane Abbot spoke first and said she should be the candidate since due to her TV and media work people all over London know her and unlike former ministers, she also has the personality to win a London Mayoral election. 

Gareth Thomas said he was the only outer London Labour politician standing, who also knows how to fight these marginal seats and how to win for Labour in outer London. He is a street fighter while his opponents all come from safe inner London seats. 

Sadiq Khan said he wanted to be someone who having been born and bred in a London council estate and was the son of a London bus driver, wants to be the candidate who will represents all of London. 

David Lammy made clear that he wanted be the young, active and independent of party candidate who could defeat Zac Goldsmith. 

Tessa Jowell  compared herself to Hillary Clinton, and pointed out that if she win, she will be the youngest ever female mayor of London (think about it).

After 30 minutes I went back to the front door to let another member of the registration team go and listen. I understand things got a little heated later on with questions about building on the Green belt, the number of social housing homes in the Olympic Park and the relaxation of gambling laws.  

Talking to people as they left it seemed that they did learn from and enjoy this event. 

Nuf said. 

West Ham Labour nominates Sadiq Khan and Tessa Jowell as their London Mayoral Candidates

Over 80 members of West Ham Labour Party attended yesterdays nomination meeting at Vicarage Lane Community centre, E15. At the beginning, our CLP Chair, Charlene McLean, called out the names of the 8 declared candidates and asked for proposers and seconders. Members present selected Diane Abbot, Tessa Jowell, David Lammy, Gareth Thomas, Sadiq Khan and Neeraj Patil.

We could nominate up to two candidates, at least one of which had to be a women. The women candidate was decided first. A number of members spoke in favour of nominating Diane or Tessa. All contributions that evening were heard out and treated with respect.

Tessa Jowell was elected as a women's candidate by 49 votes to Diane Abbot 32.

Next we debated the open selection and voted for Sadiq Khan as our candidate, who got 52 votes to 16 for Gareth Thomas and 15 this time for Diane.

There was some fantastic contributions from a wide range of new and experienced activists. I was really pleased with the arguments, the passion and energy shown. Despite our national defeat on May 7, the Labour Party in its historic homeland, West Ham, is still very much alive and kicking.

Our MP, Lyn Brown then gave us an impassioned speech, thanking us for all our hard work during the General election and in particular, for Wes Streeting's victory in marginal Ilford North. She promised to lead a "fightback" in West Ham against  the consequences of Tory rule.

After which, of course, was the inevitable Labour Party raffle, followed by a little bit of a social followed by some late night discussion by some in the nearby Bay Tree public bar.

Check out the report in West Ham Labour blog. We hope as a CLP to host a hustings for the Labour Leadership nominations.

Hat tip picture Julianne Marriott. Many thanks to top Community Centre volunteer Kim for helping to set up and clean up. 

London Triathlon 2014

Off message but I have now just about recovered from completing the London Triathlon on Sunday.

I got "talked into" taking part by my very enthusiastic Newham Councillor colleague, "Red Terry" Paul, who had completed in other triathlons and was trying to get Councillors and officers to take part. I was the only one foolish enough to agree!

I must admit it seemed a great idea in January when it was ages away but less so as the day of the event approached.

We had entered the Olympic distance event which is a swim in the docks for 1.5km, followed by a 40km bike ride and then a 10km run. The open water swimming was the thing that worried me the most. I hadn't swam for about 10-15 years following an accident and while I knew I could swim that distance in a swimming pool, I was unsure about doing so in open water and while wearing a wet suit.

I also did not have a bike, Terry resolved this problem by selling me his old one last month.

Sunday started very early at 4am for me and at 5am I was cycling through the streets of Forest Gate to meet Terry and his brother-in-law, Andy Townsend (who was also competing) at his home in Canning Town. At 5.15 we were all cycling to the venue.

Our start time for the swim was 7am and we were expected to be at venue in the ExCel centre for 5.30am. We got there, collected our tracking "chip", "racked" our bikes and laid out our kit on the floor for the various "transition's" (from swim to cycle then cycle to run). We met up with Labour MP Gareth Thomas who was also taking part and in our "wave".

At around 6.30 we put on our wet suits and went off to the assembly area. There was 380 men in our wave which the organisers thought was too many for safety reasons so they separated us into 2 groups. Eventually we went down and jumped into the water in Royal Victoria Docks.

The docks water was actually cleaner than I expected and not salty. I didn't join in the mad rush at the start and actually had quite a slow but enjoyable swim around the docks. The great thing about wet suits is that not only are you warm but you are very buoyant in the water so even if you are not the greatest of swimmers, you feel quite confident.

The 40k bike ride was also better than expected. The weather was lovely and cycling past the Tower of London and along the Thames to almost the Palace of Westminster was a treat. The only downside was the hordes of people who flew past me. At times I felt I was on a stationary exercise machine. The super fast guys with the very expensive carbon bikes sounded as if they were on motor bikes and who shouted to everyone to get out of their way - "move to your left!" or "on your right!".  Needless to say I was always "on the left" and didn't need to move.

The 10k run at the end was tough and didn't feel I had anything more in me than a slow steady jog. The finish was brilliant not only because the pain stopped but you had a free pint of cold (non alcoholic) German beer. My time was - Swim 00:44:43, Bike 01:29:30, Run 01:03:20, Total 03:29:42 which could have been better but I was really pleased to just finish and not feel ill afterwards.

At the end we met up with Terry's partner Sarah (known to us in Newham for obvious reasons as "Saint Sarah") and her sister (Andy's wife) Rachel and their lovely children Rowan (aged 2) and Princess Lucy (aged 3).

We all walked back to Caning Town pushing our bikes and I then cycled back home to Forest Gate.

I had been really dreading the day but ended up (mostly) enjoying it. It was much, much better (and far less painful) than the running half and full marathons I have done in the past. It was also great to start swimming and cycling again.

Hope I keep up with the exercising and I am now actually looking forward to my next Triathlon.

Labour Party vision for the Voluntary and Community sector

Guest post by Jonathan Slater, UNISON Labour Link officer for the London Voluntary Organisations Branch on the Link meeting last week at the House of Commons with Shadow Minster for our Sector Gareth Thomas MP.

"As a Labour Party and UNISON member who works in the charity sector, where I represent the needs of voluntary and community sector in Lewisham, I have long wanted to hear the Labour Party’s response to the ‘Big Society’ agenda of the Coalition Government, which for many in the sector has become toxic with the enforced cuts and experiences of charities taking part in the work programme where they were used as ‘bid candy’ by private sector organisations, as well as gagged from going public about its failures.

When I got elected last year as the Labour Link Officer for UNISON’s Community and Voluntary Organisation Branch which represents members who work in charities across London and who pay the political affiliation, I was very keen to bring them together to hear what the Labour Party’s position was nationally on the voluntary and community sector.

Therefore I invited Labour’s spokesman on civil society and also Chair of the Co-operative Party Gareth Thomas MP to address my members on Tuesday 29th January in Westminster. In his speech to my members he mentioned the increased demands of charities in supporting the most vulnerable members of our communities through the welfare changes, which include the important role they had to play in campaigning for them which makes them distinctive such as the Child Poverty Action Group, regardless of whether they are in receipt of public funds.

Also he highlighted that the current 160,000 charities are under huge financial pressure because of the enforced cuts by the Coalition where according to Charity Commission figures 7,394 charities shut down last year where they are suffering a triple hit with cuts of over 45 per cent in central government funding, local councils being forced to cut their VCS budgets, and a significant reduction in donations from the hard-pressed public.

According to the National Council of Voluntary Organisations recently estimated government cuts to the sector at £3.3bn by 2015. Gareth also touched upon the empty rhetoric of the Big Society where the Coalition Government has talked up the opportunities for charities to win contracts to provide government services. In reality he said it appeared that many charities are not able to compete on a level playing field with bigger private sector businesses able to take on more risk when they bid for the same contracts such as the work programme.

 In terms of Labour’s approach procurement would be designed in a better way to allow smaller charities to bid for public services where if awarded them wouldn’t be publicly gagged. A particular focus though would be on legislated to require banks to reveal where they lend to community organisations and those who don’t compelling them to lend to local financial organisations which benefits the community based on the Community Reinvestment Act passed in the United States. The Act encourages commercial banks and savings associations there to help meet the needs of borrowers in all segments of their communities, including low- and moderate-income neighbourhoods.

Finally Gareth said Labour would enforce the living wage across the board. Despite this he encouraged charities to look to become social enterprises which were more financial sustainable where they wouldn’t be reliant on central or local government, where when Labour is returned to government in 2015 they will be facing much more challenging economic circumstances than in 1997.

The other speaker was John Gray, who is the Community representative on UNISON’s National Executive Committee, who talked about the importance of members who pay the political levy to become active in the Labour Party as activists and to stand as local Councillors and MPs in order to argue and campaign against Austerity, both at a national and local level, as well as for decent pay and conditions.

John also argued that employers who don’t recognise trade union shouldn’t have access to public funds and for businesses to have worker representation on their boards. Finally he urged Gareth to think about moving towards sectoral pay panels, particularly those for low paid workers.

Overall I felt this event was not only positive in bringing my members together where we can start to campaign for some of the issues highlighted at the event as well as against the austerity cuts but also to know that the Labour Party are the best option for the voluntary and community sector in being able to deliver public services on behalf of the communities they represent. At the same time the sector need to appreciate that the economic circumstances will be challenging in 2015 and therefore need to find other non-public sources of funding to become more sustainable and independent for the future.

(afterwards we had a social in the Weatherspoons in Whitehall. I will post my speech sometime soon)

UNISON Labour Link CVO Branch Parliamentary Meeting

UNISON Greater London Community and Voluntary Organisations (CVO) branch are holding a meeting in the House of Commons with Shadow minister of Civic Society Gareth Thomas MP on Tuesday 29 January 2013.

I am also speaking at the meeting as the Chair of Regional Labour Link.

Afterwards there will be a reception at a local hospitality (Pub!).

The CVO Labour Link Officer, Jonathan Slater, is organising the event. Attendance is for UNISON Labour Link members and strictly by invite only.

Jonathon has opened the invitation to all UNISON Housing Association Labour Link members and I will be sending out an invite to them tomorrow.

We may also be holding a Parliamentary lobby for UNISON member's on another issue earlier that day. Details to follow.

Many thanks for Jonathan for organising what what looks like to be an interesting event. Labour Link officers   in all branches should think about organising something similar. We need to get our ordinary members, who are bearing the brunt of the attacks against not only their pay but the the services they provide, to tell their story to their local MPs. 

Wednesday PM – Co-op, Education (Free School Meals), Royal Mail Pension

Gareth Thomas MP, chair of Co-op Party addressed conference. The Co-op movement is on a bit of a roll at the moment. It’s not just about the failure of the demutualised banks and building societies but new interest in co-operative provision of public services – housing, hospitals and even schools.

The Education debate saw a barn standing speech in favour of free school meals by Newham Councillor Unmesh Desai (see picture). Newham is part of a government pilot to offer free school meals to all primary schools. A commitment to roll this programme out nationally in the Labour manifesto next year is IMO a "no-brainer".

Next we had some alternative show business glamour with awards given out by the Labour Party supporter Eddie Izzard.

Billy Hayes the CWU General Secretary successfully moved the emergency motion on the Royal Mail pension deficit. This deficit is mostly due to contribution holidays by the state owned Post Office during most of the period of Tory rule and the Party will now be pressing the government to take responsibility for it.

London Labour Biennial Conference (II)

Gareth Thomas, MP, (good Welsh name) Minister for Trade, Investment and Consumer Affairs gave a cracking speech while giving fraternal greetings from the Co-op Party.

Outside the hall, the Co-op stall was also giving away free bottles of Fair Trade wine with every membership form filled out!

He posed the question - would Northern Rock have crashed or would the Halifax (HBOS) been forced into a merger if they had remained mutually owned? (Of course not)

Not that long ago I was told that those of us who are interested in the concepts of owner citizens and capital stewardship in investments were the “New Rochdale Pioneers”. Which, if accurate, would be a tremendous honour and responsibility. Gareth left a wonderful image of what it was like when the Tories were last in power, when many school buildings were kept aloft only by the woodworms holding hands.

There was then an open Q&A of the panel. I asked whether or not they agreed that one reason for the current credit crunch was due to a failure of ownership and governance by pension and insurance funds. There was a failure to ensure that their money was not misused by those we employed to look after it. Instead it was invested in schemes that no one really under the risk and resulted in us being ripped off by executives motivated by short term bonuses.

Now that was “sort of” the question I had written on my crib card. But to be honest I didn’t actually put it over that well. Tessa Jowell MP answered by saying that she thought that there had been a failure of regulation and transparency rather than anything else. She also thought that due to this there would be a change for ever in the relationship between the regulators and the financial services industry.

Tony McNulty MP, very carefully, said that once the current crisis was over then the government will have to look again at what needed to be changed. However, he did think that there had been a failure of governance not government which needed looking at. But he thought that my “gentile dig” at the government for causing the problems was wrong.

I am pretty sure that I did not get my point over properly and possibly there was confusion over Government and Governance. I wasn't having a dig. But so what - any undertaking to look at regulation, transparency and governance of financial services will be good enough for me.

London MEP Claude Moreas reminded us all that the European Union was important to Londoners. Soon 1.3 million Londoners who work for agencies will soon have significant extra employment rights and protections thanks to the EU. This only happens since there is a small majority of MEPs in the EU who believe in progressive politics. This can change in future elections. There are more MEPs belonging to fascist or racist political parties than black MEPs.

Next year the top priority must be the European elections in June and we need to explain to Londoners why this election is important and relevant.

Andrew Dismore MP gave a Parliamentary report and mentioned the 10 (repeat 10) social housing homes built in Tory Barnet Council last year.

John Biggs, London Assembly member, deputy GLA labour Group leader (and “attack dog”) gave a typically good humoured and thoughtful speech. Boris being described by John as a “vacuous bag of wind” being one of my favourite moments.

Finally Jules Pipe, elected Major of Hackney gave a very confident and lucid report on the problems facing the 9 Labour London Boroughs and our role in “London Councils” as well as the huge social housing problems we face across London.

Next was lunch then workshops.

To be continued.

Photo Dan McCurry