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Many thanks to the candidates for organising such a well-supported event.
Everyone had the chance to speak, and as Statutory Deputy Mayor, I spoke last, making it clear that while we won the Mayoral contest in Newham and Labour remains the largest political group, excellent Labour candidates unfortunately weren’t elected due to circumstances beyond their control—but we’ll be back for the next Newham Council elections in 2030, and we will win.
Vicarage Lane Community Centre
Weekly Drop‑In Surgeries
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John.Gray@newham.gov.uk
020 3373 2615 Adjoa.Kwarteng@newham.gov.uk 020 3373 1539
Ward Newsletter
Many thanks to our ace local canvasser Varghese for all his support. I will be highlighting supporters to acknowledge their huge contributions.
He was an active UNISON LAS rep and Labour Link Officer and will always be a hammer for workers’ rights. He’s also a Labour councillor, having won a safe Conservative seat on his local Herts Council.
We started at the UNISON Centre in Camden, then went on a mini tour of local and East End pubs before finishing with a meal at the Lahore Kebab House.
Best wishes to Pete and his wife for his well deserved retirement and all their upcoming travel adventures.
Although it’s about 50 metres outside the official West Ham ward boundaries, many of our residents and their families use the centre, but we also checked in with our Forest Gate South colleagues beforehand.
We were welcomed to observe prayers, after which each of us was invited to speak for a minute and introduce ourselves.
It was inspiring to witness first-hand the deep spiritual side of Islam, something too rarely shown in mainstream UK media.
Afterwards, we enjoyed conversations with Mosque members and trustees.
We’re open and eager to visit all other faith groups in and around our ward.
A special thanks to Pervez Qureshi, Labour Candidate in Plaistow North (third from right), for helping arrange the visit.
We’ve been out knocking on doors in West Ham ward, chatting with residents about their issues, concerns, and how we can help.
This canvass took place last Saturday, a week ago, during a street surgery next to West Ham Park. We had plenty of positive conversations with residents and noted some concerns about ASB and complex neighbour disputes. Some beautiful blossom in trees.
I started with my Labour & Co‑op Councillor Surgery at the newly refurbished Vicarage Lane Community Centre. It’s looking fantastic — bright, welcoming, and nearly ready for bookings. I’ll share more on that soon.
From there, I joined Adjoa for a positive canvass in the ward. My very first conversation was with someone previously marked “Against” Labour who now rated herself a 10/10 Labour voter. A reminder that people do change their minds — especially when they feel listened to. There was also some complex casework involving long‑running neighbour disputes, the kind of issues that really test patience and persistence.
I cycled to Stratford, enjoying the newly resurfaced stretch from Stratford Park to the L&Q HQ — smooth tarmac and clear cycle markings make such a difference.
On the Central line I bumped into Stella Creasy MP, and we had a good chat before the inevitable photo outside with Forhad Hussain, our Newham Mayoral candidate, and Cllr Sabia Kamali.
I joined the UNISON bloc on the Together March and helped carry the Greater London banner. Not heavy — but the wind certainly tried its best.
The march itself was inspiring. I understand the police estimate around 500,000 people came together to say clearly and proudly that whatever our differences, we stand united against racism, bigotry, and far‑right extremism.
One moment that meant a lot to me: I asked for a photo beside a placard reminding us that our grandfathers fought the far right in the Second World War. The woman holding it told me her grandfather landed on D‑Day and helped liberate Bergen‑Belsen.
Both my grandfathers also served in the war and fought against Nazism — something I carry with real pride.
There was a tiny minority who seemed to think “togetherness” only applied on their terms, but thankfully they were ignored by the overwhelming majority who understood the spirit of the day.
I left the march at Piccadilly Circus to head back for a Little Ilford canvass. On the train I ran into Chris, former secretary of my UNISON branch — another nice moment in a day full of them.
Before canvassing, I stopped at the Plaistow Café for their famous Big Belly Breakfast — my first meal of the day and very much needed.
The 4pm canvass in Little Ilford went well. More positive conversations, and it was great to see candidate Sharon Shawda, full of energy and determination, speaking to every resident she could. (For more on Sharon’s work, see my post: https://www.johnslabourblog.org/2026/02/newham-for-newcomers-by-sharon-chawda.html .)
I’ve been working with my UNISON trade union branch and Newham Labour activists to help boost attendance at Saturday’s march.
I’ll be joining the national UNISON bloc, which will be second from the front. It’s so important to make our voices heard and show solidarity with those affected by racist, Islamophobic, and hateful commentary.
The main march will gather at 12pm on Park Lane, setting off around 1pm towards Piccadilly and ending near Green Park tube station.
The shorter, accessible march will meet from 1pm at the top of Whitehall by Trafalgar Square (outside Waterstones).
The day will wrap up on Whitehall with speeches and music from 2 to 6pm.
While campaigning for Labour in West Ham ward last Saturday, I was glad to see our local Filipino community also spreading the word about the march.
At Thursday’s annual budget meeting I was pleased to second the motion approving the Housing Revenue Account for the coming year. My three‑minute contribution is at 1 hour 9 minutes in the recording. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY0ulkhVJy8. The motion passed — and then we witnessed something extraordinary for all the wrong reasons.
Not a single opposition group put forward an alternative budget. Not one amendment. Nothing. They criticised the administration’s proposals at length, but when it came to doing the work that scrutiny requires, they simply opted out. That is not opposition. It is political theatre without substance.
The Greens didn’t even bother to explain their silence. The so‑called independents — better known locally as the Bosses Party — claimed they “did not have enough time” to draft amendments. That excuse is laughable. Years ago, I worked with my Labour colleague Cllr John Whitworth to produce a full, lawful alternative budget. It took effort, of course, but it was entirely achievable. It was voted down, but at least residents saw a real debate and real choices.
What happened on Thursday was the opposite: a vacuum where scrutiny should be. Opposition parties are paid to challenge, to test assumptions, and to offer alternatives. If they believe services should be cut or expanded, they should have the courage to say so — and to explain who would pay the price. Instead, they hid behind criticism without responsibility.
At best, this is laziness and incompetence. At worst, it is cowardice. The truth is simple: they avoided amendments because they didn’t want to defend a budget of their own. They preferred to snipe from the sidelines rather than do the hard work of governing. Residents deserve better than that.
(I will publish my acutal speech on a separate blogger page https://www.blogger.com/blog/page/edit/7733583/7174233470400372938)
A very positive canvass last Sunday with Heather and a great team of activists. Simon was out with another group, joined by our Mayoral candidate, Forhad. Thelma was at the other two sessions. As always, it’s luck of the draw who opens the door, but everyone I spoke to during this street surgery was either strongly positive about Labour or undecided. No one expressed opposition, though a small number who didn’t want to engage may well have been less supportive.
One resident managed to lock himself out while trying to show me holes in his garden where he believed vermin were nesting. He’s in a Council-owned property, and when I rang the Council contact centre on his behalf, the call was answered very quickly. Fortunately, he was able to get back inside before a locksmith arrived.
What stood out across the session was a clear sense of strong Labour support and a very welcome rejection of far‑right politics. It was encouraging, but we can’t take anything for granted.
The views from the top were quite impressive. Although many residents were not home, those I did speak with were pretty positive.
Concerns were raised about local crime and trust in politics, especially given the challenging week for the Labour Government.
However, there was also a recognition that Labour has made significant contributions to Newham, particularly after 15 years of austerity, by providing Council funding based on actual need rather than just population size.
This represents a truly progressive and socialist agenda. While there is much more to be done, this is a very welcome start.
This morning I cycled to Stratford Library for my West Ham Councillor surgery. It was busy, with two consecutive residents seeking advice on housing eviction notices—one case very urgent—and in both instances the residents were in poor health. I contacted Newham’s “out of hours” service and had some serious conversations with them about next steps. I can’t help wondering if these so-called “no fault” evictions are linked to the Labour Government’s Renters Rights Bill, set to come into effect on 1 May 2026. I’ll be raising members’ enquiries for both cases.
In the afternoon, I met fellow ward candidates for the May 2026 elections, Adjoa and Sam, at Plaistow café for campaign planning, before joining a West Ham ward street surgery with Labour colleagues. We had two teams out and three people new to canvassing who, after some on-the-job training, were knocking on doors by the end. There were plenty of positive interactions, a few trickier ones, but always interesting conversations with residents. Most people I spoke to seemed to appreciate us knocking, introducing ourselves, and listening—responding when needed, though not always. Listening matters, but people also want answers.
Hat tip Captain Swing and Society for the Study of Labour History (SSLH). West Ham’s first Labour council, 1898.
In our continuing series on places in labour history, Mike Mecham argues that West Ham and Canning Town in East London form a cornerstone of the British labour movement.
There is a good case for West Ham, in East London, being recognized as the cornerstone of the British labour movement and of political radicalism more generally. For Caroline Benn, in her biography of Keir Hardie, West Ham, with Canning town, was ‘the cradle of the new unionism’ and London’s socialist heartland (p.75). In 1888 young women from poor Irish families in Canning Town were central to the historic ‘Matchgirls Strike’ in Bow. West Ham was also the bedrock of the groundbreaking London dock strike of 1889, and in 1892 it elected Hardie as its MP. In 1898 it became the first labour council elected to power in Britain (and remains a Labour stronghold today); West Ham, particularly Canning Town, also had an active working-class suffragette movement supported by the Pankhursts (Emmeline married in Canning Town). In1926 it was at the heart of London’s support for the general strike and in 1936 West and East Ham trade unionists, socialists and Irish settlers joined East London’s Jewish community in resisting Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts in the ‘Battle of Cable Street’.
The rate of West Ham’s all-round growth was so rapid that some suggest it was unique in Britain at the time. In 1850 it was a collection of small agricultural settlements with a population of around 17,000; by the end of the century it had grown to 268,000, peaking at 300,000 in 1921. From the 1840s, with the eastwards expansion of London and the improvement in road and rail links, West Ham was transformed into one of Britain’s industrial hubs. ‘Offensive trades’ laws saw chemical manufacturing move to West Ham. The giant Stratford locomotive and carriage building works was opened in 1850 and shipbuilding firms also found southern West Ham convenient with its proximity to waterways and the River Thames. This led to the construction of the Royal Group of docks to accommodate ships and handle goods from all over the world. Thousands of people converged on West Ham from across Britain and Ireland with streets of small houses being built across the borough.
A key moment in West Ham’s political and trade union development came with the construction between 1868 and 1870 of the giant Becton Gas Works, the largest in Europe. Many of its new workforce brought with them experience of struggles for higher wages and better conditions; many were Irish who also brought their own tradition of struggle and poverty. In 1889, Will Thorne, a prodigy of Eleanor Marx, helped form the National Union of Gas Workers and General Labourers, spearheading ‘new unionism’, and leading a successful strike for better pay and conditions, as well as helping to organize the London dock strike. In the twentieth century, the area was devastated during the Second World War, and its strength became its weakness in the 1970s and 1980s when deindustrialization decimated the area. Yet it remains vibrant as part of Newham. Always a migratory hub, the new borough is now the most ethnically diverse place in the UK. Despite having high levels of poverty and deprivation it is also one of the highest educational performers in the tradition of its working class.
Mike Mecham was born and raised in West Ham, met his wife in the West Ham South Young Socialists, and is a former councillor for Canning Town. Growing up in a blitzed East London, he recognised firsthand the debt owed to the labour movement in providing social and educational opportunities even during postwar austerity.
Caroline Benn, Keir Hardie (London: Hutchinson, 1992)
Newham History Workshop, A Marsh and a Gasworks: One Hundred Years of Life in West Ham (Newham Parents’ Centre, 1986)
London Borough of Newham, West Ham 100: 1886-1986 London Borough of Newham, 1986)
