Strong, Committed and One Nation Labour MEP Candidates

This is a Labour Party press release. Of the candidates that I know its congratulations in London to Lucy Anderson and commiserations to Ivana, Kamaljeet and Sanchia. Well done to Newham Councillor Farah Nazeer for a credible performance in the South East region.

"Today Labour unveils its candidates to fight the 2014 European Elections. Harriet Harman MP, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, said: “I am proud that such strong, committed and inspiring people have been picked by Labour Party members to be their MEP candidates for next year’s Euro Elections.

“Like the people they seek to represent, they come from all walks of life and from all different communities across the UK. “Unlike David Cameron whose first priority on Europe is appeasing the ever more extreme demands of Tory backbenchers, Labour MEPs will be a powerful One Nation voice who stand up for ordinary hardworking families.

“Their top priority is to be a strong voice in the European Parliament to make sure they get the best deal and bring jobs and growth here in the UK.”

1. The following candidates have been selected to represent Labour in the 2014 European Parliamentary election:

East Midlands 1. WILLMOTT, Glenis 2. PALMER, Rory 3. WOODINGS, Linda 4. HADADI, Khalid 5. BROOKS, Nicki Eastern 1. HOWITT, Richard 2. MAYER, Alex 3. MARTIN, Sandy 4. JOSHI, Bhavna 5. BISHOP, Paul 6. AYUB, Naseem 7. OSTROWSKI, Chris

London 1. MORAES, Claude 2. HONEYBALL, Mary 3. ANDERSON, Lucy 4. DANCE, Seb 5. BARTOLETTI, Ivana 6. JANDU, Kamaljeet 7. ALASIA, Sanchia 8. BIONDI, Andrea

North 1. KIRTON-DARLING, Judith 2. BRANNEN, Paul 3. SHOTTON, Jayne North West 1. MCCARTHY, Arlene 2. GRIFFIN, Theresa 3. KHAN, Afzal 4. WARD, Julie 5. KHAN, Wajid 6. STOGIA, Angeliki 7. CARTER, Steve 8. LAMB, Pascale

South East 1. DODDS, Anneliese 2. HOWARTH, John 3. WESTLEY, Emily 4. SINGH, Del 5. NAZEER, Farah 6. SWINDLEHURST, James 7. HUGHES, Maggie 8. WATKINS, James 9. LANDLES, Karen 10. To be confirmed

South West 1. MOODY, Clare 2. FORD, Glyn 3. REEDER, Ann 4. ROBERTS, Hadleigh 5. ROBINSON, Jude 6. ALI, Junab

West Midlands 1. GILL, Neena 2. SIMON, Siôn 3. WALTHO, Lynda 4. KHAN, Ansar Ali 5. HAMER, Olwen 6. ETHAPEMI, Tony 7. EDWARDS, Claire

Yorkshire and The Humber 1. MCAVAN, Linda 2. CORBETT, Richard 3. TUNNICLIFFE , Eleanor 4. KHAN, Asghar 5. MIRFIN-BOUKOURIS, Helen 6. HUGHES , Darren

Scotland 1. MARTIN, David 2. STIHLER, Catherine 3. MUNN, Derek 4. MURRAY, Katrina 5. KHAN, Asim 6. O'BRIEN, Kirsty

Wales 1. VAUGHAN, Derek 2. BRYANT, Jayne 3. THOMAS, Alex 4. REES, Christina 2.

Labour party applies a "zipping procedure" to ensure a balance of male and female candidates. 3. The election to the European Parliament is a list system. The Labour Party ran a one member one vote ballot of its members to determine the order of candidates on the list. Across the country, nearly 70,000 Labour party members took part in the process.

West Ham Labour London Euro MEP hustings 2013

Picture is from the hustings that took place on Tuesday evening at the Vicarage Lane Community Centre in Newham. The event was organised by West Ham Labour Party (sponsored by London UNISON Labour Link). Chaired by Charlene McLean (middle)

All Labour Party members have by now been sent by email how to ballot on line and I believe next week they will receive postal ballot papers to use if they prefer.

London UNISON Labour Link have endorsed our members Sanchia Alasia (first left) and Ivana Bartoletti (2nd left). So we recommend you vote for either - 1st or 2nd choice on ballot paper. Other candidates are Andrea Biondi, Seb Dance, Lucy Anderson and Kamaljett Jandu.

I was away and couldn't make the event which is a real shame. Hat tip picture Ali G.

West Ham CLP Euro Husting 28 May 7.30pm Vicarage Lane Community Centre, E15

All 6 candidates to be ranked by a ballot of London Labour Party members next month have confirmed that they will be attending. Including UNISON supported candidates Sanchia Alaisa and Ivana Bartoletti. Existing London MEP Mary Honeyball is also planning to be there.

TUC 12 "Why every trade unionist should be active in the Labour Party" CLPD fringe

Sorry this is a little late but on Tuesday evening I went to the fringe organised by the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD).  This is the first time that I've been to a CLPD event and had never seen its shy and retiring Secretary, Pete Willsman, in action before (see centre). I won't repeat his comments about the recent North Norwich PPC selection process.

Jim Kennedy from UCATT (and Labour Party NEC) spoke first about the need to get ordinary working class union members as elected representatives. On 4% of MPs come from a manual background and UCATT are running a campaign group "to get that plasterer into Parliament".

Kate Osamor from Haringey (speaking) explained how her borough was still recovering from last years riots and how she was brought to believe that the trade unions are the cornerstone of any civilisation. Andy Kerr from the CWU (another Labour Party NEC member) doesn't see how anyone in the Party cannot be a trade union member and that trade union members should be Labour Party members. Lucy Anderson London NPF representative described how there was a window of opportunity with "Refounding Labour" for activists to increase their influence in the Party.

Michael Meacher MP posed the question about how will we get the money to pay for work for the unemployed? Then he reminded everyone that according to the Sunday Times "Rich list" during the last 3 years the top 1,000 in this country have increased their wealth by £105 billion.

Kelvin Hopkins MP told how he first joined the TUC 43 years ago. It was unimaginable at that time how right wing things would become. He believes that the mass of people are still "to the left", they just don't realise what they want is actually "socialism". Even hard core Tory voters want the railways to be renationalised.

Simon Wellor from ASLEF complained that there was now a "political class" in this country and that people go to Oxbridge, then become Parliamentary Assistants then become MPs. Is there some sort of Labour Party by-law that every PPC selection has to include someone from Islington?

Final speaker was Diana Holland from Unite who is also the Labour Party treasurer. She wants to be optimistic & positive for the future. She senses that people want a change and is pleased that the new people who have joined the Party have stayed in membership and renewed it the following year. 

I couldn't stay for the Q&A and had to dash off.  I'd didn't like to mention that I was back to work in Islington the morrow.