Getting “White Van” Man to Vote Labour

Back from an Easter visit to home in North Wales to find out that the BNP held the seat in the Havering Council by-election on Thursday in Gooshays. A disappointing result of course. Despite Labour coming 2nd and increasing its share of the vote at the expense of the Tories (and the turnout only being a miserly 22%).

However, there is no way that this overwhelmingly white working class ward should be represented by one Nazi and two Tories! We all need to try harder! I think there is more to it than just racism and Labour unpopularity.

Gooshays is not a “sink estate” but to all appearances, a well run and looked after, traditional outer London Council estate. Most of the properties I guess, have now been sold under “The Right to Buy”. I don’t think (this was on a Sunday I visited) that I have ever seen so many “white vans” parked outside homes with adverts on their sides for their self employed owners. This made me think.

Last Saturday evening in Wales, my brother-in-law, a self employed pipe lagger, proudly picked up the Mrs and I from our hotel in his brand new white transit, to go out for a family meal. My brother-in-law is a really hard and conscientious worker, who went out on site every day during the Bank holiday in order to finish a job in time.

My brother-in-law won’t have his company logo sprayed on the sides of his van because he believes that he will not be able to legally smoke while driving if it is identified as a “company vehicle”. I’m not sure that this is actually true or not?

He is not nowadays, a "natural" supporter of the Labour Party, even though he was brought up in a council estate and admits that his business has boomed out of all recognition since Labour came to power. Since most of his work is lagging central heating pipes in new and refurbished hospitals, schools and other public buildings that have been commissioned due to the government pouring money into the public sector infrastructure. However, he thinks that the more business he has, the more he unfairly pays in taxes. He won’t tell me who he votes for, but I can guess.

How can we persuade him and his Essex counterparts to vote Labour?

As you can imagine, we have had a number of wide ranging conversations during the years. Often, admittedly alcohol fuelled, so not always that constructive.

I haven’t got an answer. I think that he appreciates the improvement in the NHS, local schools and crime. Although this is not enough to interest him to consider voting Labour.

The only time I felt that I really had his interest is when we discussed what will happen to him if he becomes too ill to work and will he have an adequate pension when he retires?

As you can guess, the answer is that he will be in a very serious financial mess if he becomes long term sick before he retires, since he cannot afford permanent ill health medical insurance. He is also unsure whether or not his personal pension plans will provide him (and my sister!) with a reasonable living when he retires.

Other countries have industry wide sickness and pension protection plans for the self employed. These collective schemes collect contributions from employers and contractors and share the risk. Despite being suspicious of the State in many ways, he would rather trust the the State (or evens unions?) with his money rather than banks and insurance companies (for obvious reasons).

My point is that we need to attract and appeal to the new working class self employed. Forget any old arguments about how they should all be part of some sort of Council DLO. The genuinely self employed (not false long term construction workers) must be attracted with policies that reflect what concerns them and their own particular circumstances.

Who knows, if we get this right, perhaps in the future, the Tories will tremble when we mention the electoral power of Welsh and Essex “Labour White Van Persons”?

The 4 Johns, Eve & Gloria tackle the BNP

This morning there was a TULO day of action across London in support of Labour Party candidates in the forthcoming Assembly and the Mayor elections. In our London Assembly constituency, City & East, trade unionists were asked to go and help out with canvassing and leafleting in the Gooshays council by-election in Havering, East London.

Picture to right is of TULO activists John 1, Gloria Hanson (also UNISON London Regional Convener), John 2 (Biggs – London Assembly member for City & East), Eve Cornell (top Labour Candidate for the by-election) and John 3. John 4 was of course taking the picture. Peter (who works for Margaret Hodge MP) was leading the team. However, out of the 7 of us, 4 were called John – is this some sort of record?

This is an intriguing by-election. There was a BNP and two Tory Councillors in the ward. The useless BNP Councillor has just given up and resigned after only 2 years. No doubt there is some sort of court appearance pending. At the last election there was a “dead heat” between Eve and a Tory. The returning officer had to toss a coin to decide the result. Unfortunately (for the residents of Goodshays) Eve lost the toss.

According to the local organiser there were about 30 people that day working the ward. I know that Amarjit Singh from Tessa was also leading a TULO team at the same time but we didn’t bump into them.

There was no sign of any BNP canvassers, only 2 Tory leafleters led by their local MP Angela Watkinson, who had a polite chat with Eve.

The ward was a GLC estate now managed by “Havering Homes”. Mostly terraced or semi-detached houses. It appears to be a well run and decent estate. Very little graffiti, no obvious abandoned cars, fridges/mattresses in gardens etc. Lots of green spaces and parks. The local kids seemed pretty relaxed and content. Many of the homes appear to have been bought under “right to buy”. I have no doubt that there are problems but it did not seem to me to be the sort of area were the BNP would thrive? Going by all the vans with local logos there are lots of self-employed trades people and contractors living on the estate.

I appreciate that people do not normally admit to voting BNP (the shame?) but no-one I canvassed said they would vote BNP. It was encouragingly solid Labour. Eve was a poplar and well known candidate. We even had one elderly couple who said that until recently they use to be life long conservatives but now they are getting old they now vote Labour (think about it).

The only hassle I had was from one bloke on his doorstep who announced that he supported UKIP and started wittering on about “stealth taxes”. He was okay, but Eve came over and rescued me, and even got him to sign our petition against the closure of the local post office. As we went off Eve said he was actually a BNP supporter who had in the past been given an Anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) against him for causing problems on the estate. No surprise there then.

The by-election is on 20 March 2008. Canvassers meet up normally 6.30pm each evening at the Harold Hill Community Centre, Gooshays Drive, Romford, Essex RM3 9LB (TFL website) email rob_chapmanatnewdotlabourdotorgdotuk to confirm before you turn up to help.

Check out the “Hope Not Hate” website to find out the latest on the Nazi campaigns in London and the rest of the Country.

Why I fear the BNP

The British National Party could easily win seats in the London Assembly elections - unless voters wake up the threat

This is a superb post (see below) by London Labour Assembly member Jennette Arnold in “Comment is free”. BTW - On Sunday London TULO are encouraging people to go and help out at the Goodshays by-Election (BNP councillor resigned) Meet 10.30am 9 March outside the Harold Hill Community Centre, Gooshays Drive, Romford, Essex RM3 9LB

Like a dangerous dog, the threat from the British National Party in the London Assembly elections has been allowed to lie. But the realisation that they need just 5% of the capital's vote to win seats in May is now slowly dawning. The shock that this awakening has taken so long alarmed me almost as much as the threat itself.

The facts are stark. For one seat on the assembly, the BNP need just 5% of the vote. For two seats they need 8% and for three seats 11%. For anyone doubting how achievable these targets are, at the last GLA elections in 2004 they got 4.8% - just 5,000 votes away from credibility and a stepping stone to further power.

Though the BNP is currently wracked by internal wrangling and financial turmoil, any success in London would galvanise its supporters, give the party UK-wide credence as an electable force and set in motion worrying momentum heading into next year's European elections. Or, as they put it: "If we are successful it will send shockwaves through the media and the establishment and will really propel the BNP into the political premier league."

As someone who adores multi-cultural, multi-coloured and multi-racial London, it's a terrifying thought.

The BNP terrify me not because they are a racist, thuggish bunch who thrive on hate and fear - though of course they are - but because they represent the polar opposite of my political beliefs. For me, politics is about the power of collective action, in all its forms, as the driver for achieving change. This was my philosophy as a member of the church, then a nursing trade union official and finally as a Labour politician.

I have always believed in the power of the collective will of the majority to improve lives and communities. In contrast, the BNP are a fascist minority who manipulate grievances to divide the communities they infect. It is their pernicious scape-goating, based on racism but thriving on fear of 'the other', that I so despise.

There is a danger - and I have seen it here at City Hall - that progressive-minded people will shrug their shoulders. The pervasive attitude that says: "It won't happen here. The BNP blights Oldham and Burnley but not our great multi-cultural capital. We're above all that."

But the far right's recent successes should serve as a wake-up call. In Barking and Dagenham two years ago they won 11 out of 35 council seats with 8,000 votes (remember they only need 5,000 more across the whole of London for an assembly seat). They have polled 10% in wards in Havering, Sutton, Croydon, Lewisham, Hillingdon and Enfield - all areas where UKIP have previously done well.

Why do I talk about UKIP? In 2004, when the BNP were in touching distance of an assembly seat, the GLA and European elections were held on the same day. UKIP punched above their weight by exploiting the shared date and won two seats. Excellent work by the anti-fascist group Searchlight and the Joseph Rowntree Trust has found that, with UKIP (now called One London) all but finished as an electoral force and with no European elections this year, as many as 20% of their supporters could switch to the BNP. This would give the racist party 6.5% even before their growth in the capital since 2004 is taken into account. More than enough to get them elected.

It is far from a forgone conclusion, though. The BNP are the most despised political party in Britain and London's diverse population means that 35% of voters should automatically oppose them. The problem comes with the word "automatically".

It is not enough to be automatically or naturally opposed to the hideous ideology of the far-right. What matters is getting out and voting. And, because of the electoral system, it is not enough to say it won't happen in, say, Hackney or Hampstead. It is the party's share of the vote across the whole of London that counts. So the more votes that are cast the higher the bar will be that the BNP have to reach.

An increased turnout is the only way to stop the BNP gaining a foothold in London. If 45% of Londoners turn out to vote, the BNP would need 120,000 votes for one seat and almost 200,000 for two. In 2004 they got 90,000 votes.

One upshot of the high profile fight for the mayoralty is that the increased media attention should encourage people to get out and vote. Let's hope so. With the nation's eyes on the capital, the British far right have their best chance in recent years of gaining respectability and - as the BNP see it - a springboard to further political power. But if London's mainstream majority are alive to the threat and get out to vote, the capital and the country will have a lot to be thankful for.