Wellingborough PPC: ‘I cut short my honeymoon to win this by-election’

 

Hat tip Labour List for this article by former Newham Councillor Gen Kitchen. 

"I was on day four of my honeymoon in Suffolk when I got the call to say Peter Bone had been suspended from the Commons and a recall petition had been triggered.

I would have said wild horses couldn’t drag me from my honeymoon early, but I travelled home immediately to get ready to begin my campaign with the local community in mind.

Wellingborough deserves better than Tory neglect

I grew up in Northamptonshire and I know just how special the local area is, but I’m also acutely aware of the issues that concern local people. From crime to cost of living – Wellingborough deserves a better future.

My husband Joe and I are moving back to Northants, and we can’t wait to get settled back in the County where we grew up and where our families live.

Wellingborough deserves a candidate with bold ideas, energy and determination. Local people can and should have an MP with integrity who works tirelessly for them.
I’m confident that my experience means I can represent Wellingborough

I have dedicated my career to improving the lives of others. I am proud of my decade of experience in the charity sector, supporting homeless people into employment, helping vulnerable women to improve their lives, creating new clinical nurse specialists, and raising over £1 million for cancer research.

I want Labour’s campaign here to be positive, full of energy and hope for the future. That’s because I am hopeful for the future. I believe we should be proud of where we live and that we can fix the things that we know are wrong.

We don’t have to sit back and give criminals free reign to escape punishment. We should be able to get an appointment with a GP when we need one. We can provide our children with a worldclass education.
The Tories are out of ideas and in a cycle of failure

Rishi Sunak and his Conservative Party are bereft of ambition and new ideas. They are in a cycle of failure and we are paying the price. Peter Bone’s refusal to do the decent thing and resign immediately is costing the taxpayer over a hundred thousand in a costly and cumbersome recall petition. It’s time for them to get out of the way for a party that is offering the country hope for a brighter future.

People are eager to hear from Labour here, and genuinely want to know how we can get towns like Wellingborough and Rushden back on a positive track. They want to feel proud of their high streets, safe in the town centres and are keen to know how the Labour Party can help with that.
Early conversations are important – every conversation matters

That’s why these early conversations are so important, to find out what people want, because nobody knows that better than the local shopkeeper, the small business owner, the parents looking for activities for their children.

Labour members and volunteers are very welcome to join us on the doors for these vital conversations. Wellingborough is less than an hour on the train from London, and we’ve got a fantastic team on the ground up and running and ready to welcome you. I hope to see you soon!"

How Newham has deployed an army of volunteers to support residents

Hat tip Labour List by Rokhsana Fiaz, Executive Mayor of Newham.

"Two weeks ago, there was nothing. Some ideas, lots of questions and a whole bunch of challenges to overcome. How can we get food, medicine, essential household items and support to residents who need to self-isolate or are vulnerable? We had no locations, no names, no confirmed supply chain, no data system, and no joint arrangements with the voluntary and community sectors. As a social activist turned politician, I know that it can take a while for local government to mobilise. But the response over these past two weeks has blown me away.

By last weekend, we had taken delivery of one ton of food, which has since been packed into 900 boxes by volunteers including residents and hundreds of council staff. We have requisitioned schools – closed to the majority of pupils – and council buildings, and transformed them into eight #HelpNewham local hubs. From those hubs, we distribute prescription medicines, food and essential supplies to our most vulnerable.

This army of volunteers is made up of residents and hundreds of council staff, who are giving up their time to help with the mission we have embarked on: protecting and supporting our residents during this coronavirus pandemic. The mission has taken a humanitarian vigour to it, coupled with logistical precision and agile management – though there’s a discreteness to the hub locations, to avoid theft.

We are not unique, of course – I know many other Labour councils are doing the same. But I think that we in Newham have something we can share with others, and over 20 authorities from across the country have been in touch to learn from what we have done. One of the biggest challenges will be to ensure that our supply chains are maintained. All the great work of our volunteer army could be for nothing if we don’t have supplies to deliver.

We have embedded community wealth building in our local hub model and approach, which is about addressing poverty and inequality, protecting livelihoods and building stronger communities. Because we know that the economic impact of the pandemic is going hurt so many people; in the last two weeks alone, we have seen one million people apply for Universal Credit.

Our #HelpNewham local hubs are working with all parts of our communities: our schools, faith groups, youth workers, residents and local businesses, who have all made incredibly generous donations. We are supporting local businesses as well by ensuring that our catering service, Juniper, is sourcing local produce and household items from local suppliers where possible.

In our last survey of residents, nearly a third of people said that they had no-one they could rely on when things became difficult. It’s a stark reminder that even in one of the busiest cities in the world, people can feel incredibly lonely and isolated.

In response, we are setting up a phone ‘befriending service’, which can be staffed by people who also have to stay at home. This will be a chance to have some human interaction, a quick natter over a cup of tea, to break the monotony of being on your own. But our call handlers will also have detailed scripts so they can provide the right guidance and support to our most vulnerable residents.

This has been one of the most testing moments for government – for central government but also for local councils, which are already struggling with huge reductions to our budgets. Now we are in the midst of a global crisis, where we are on the frontline to delay the spread of the virus and save lives.

We had to take a very difficult decision to close the Stratford Mall shopping centre during the nights, following the requirement by government to house all rough sleepers by the end of one weekend. For those of you not familiar with our borough, the shopping centre has become a place of comfort for many rough sleepers, despite the risks that they face.

The advice of our public health experts was that the risk of coronavirus spreading amongst those sleeping there and others was too great. In a space of a few hours, our specialist officers supported by volunteers had to find accommodation for a group of 30 rough sleepers – amongst our most vulnerable residents.

We have all been learning as we go, and no doubt mistakes will be made. It has not been easy for everyone to adapt so quickly to working remotely, but I’ve been impressed by the way in which my colleagues have embraced everything from Skype calls to using Sharepoint or Zoom to collaborate. We had planned to shift to this way of working anyway, but not at the pace that the crisis has imposed on us.

Newham has become something of a hub for the pan-London Covid-19 relief effort, where all councils are coordinating efforts to delay the spread of the virus and save lives. There is the NHS Nightingale – the 4,000 bed hospital built in the Excel centre, next door to our own council offices. It was completed in just nine days. And a new temporary mortuary has been set up in Manor Park.

I could never have imagined all this a month ago. When this is all over, many of our first thoughts will be to seeing friends again, going out for a bite to eat at a local restaurant, watching a film at the cinema or giving our loved ones a heartfelt hug. But when normality has returned, we should also reflect on all the lives that have been lost.

While I have been incredibly moved and impressed by the work of our voluntary and faith groups to support those at risk, in the end, this crisis has shown the importance of a functioning and well-funded state. Whether it is keeping a business going, a hospital working, or vital council services operating, it is something that the architects of austerity must consider – because our world has changed indelibly.

"Let’s build on the brilliant Jo Cox women’s programme with leadership schemes for gay, trans and BAME activists"

Excellent article by West Ham CLPer, Rohit K Dasgupta, on LabourList today. 

"This is an exciting time to be a Labour member. The latest Survation polls puts us ahead of the Tories. Members are enthused and confident about the upcoming local elections in May 2018 and, in between all of this, Jeremy Corbyn has announced the democracy review.

The review, launched formally in November, will be a consultation to address how members can be democratically involved in the party and its structure as we prepare to form the next government.

At the very outset this is a mammoth task but its overall goals towards accountability, transparency and representation of all party members is welcome. I was recently at the launch of the BAME Labour consultation in London where I made a plea: the party has made great strides towards equality issues but we need to do much more.

As an openly gay and Asian Labour activist I have often found myself in groups where one or another part of my identity is seen as problematic. Our identities are not mutually exclusive but rather they are inextricably linked. Whilst I have faced racism in mainstream queer spaces, I have often also had to face homophobia in “safe” BAME spaces. I think the current democracy review gives the party an opportunity to shine a lens on these issues.

I propose that this can be done in four ways.

Firstly, the party already has a long established mechanism of all-women’s shortlists to address the issue of female representation in Parliament. Most recently AWS has also been used successfully in the selection of council candidates.

Positive action is useful as an affirmative action to bridging inequalities. If we are able to do this for gender, I would suggest that the party also takes into consideration race and sexuality in selections. It would be useful to point out at that this should not equate to making sure a BAME candidate is included in the longlist of parliamentary selections, as is currently done. That is simply not enough and for many CLPs it is as a tick-box exercise. I was surprised at the recent council selections for Newham in east London, where I belong, when the regional party did not even collect demographics related to sexuality.

Whilst positive action is a good thing and can open the door, the real test would be for actual training and mentorship. Trade unions have come out in support of making sure more working class voices in parliament and providing mentoring. We need similar training and mentorship for LGBT and BAME candidates. The Jo Cox women in leadership program has shown what a good training program can do. It is time for Labour to invest in similar programs. How about a Bernie Grant leadership program or a Chris Smith leadership Program?

The only way we can make our politics and political leaders truly representative is by investing. This is a good time for the party to invest in its socialist societies and liberation groups and ensure they are producing the next generation of leaders from under-represented communities. I would also suggest that this kind of training should involve bursaries and grants for working class and disabled candidates to help them participate.

The third point is to make the change at the grassroots level. The party needs to ensure that liberation groups and officers are given more power. All CLPs now have a women’s officer who is a voting member of the executive. Why are the LGBT and BAME co-ordinators not given the same status within our CLP executive and given equal voting rights?

This would increase accountability and help grow liberation groups. For many of us LGBT and/or BAME young people, we are conditioned to believe that politics is not for us. This must be challenged and it has to come from the very bottom. Socialist societies can also play an important role in this. Through affiliation with CLPs they can make sure that local parties remain progressive, inclusive and committed to equalities. Affiliation will also encourage more members of under-represented groups get involved within.

This brings me to my final point, of how to ensure grassroots engagement is beneficial for liberation groups. Let’s make it easier for people to join them when they join Labour. If members indicate they are BAME, LGBT or disabled they should automatically be made members of these groups. It took me almost five years to understand how to join BAME Labour.

This should be a turning point for us in Labour. The Tory government is in a mess, we have a very large and active membership base whose power we need to harness in the next election. For a truly democratic, progressive and transparent voice; we must embrace intersectionality and give all liberation groups that extra push to make sure our party is representative of the plurality of its membership.

Dr Rohit K Dasgupta is a lecturer at Loughborough University. He was Labour’s candidate for East Hampshire in 2017. 

https://labourlist.org/2017/12/lets-build-on-the-brilliant-jo-cox-programme-with-leadership-schemes-for-gay-trans-and-bame-activists

"Today is the day Labour must renew its determination to end online violence against women and girls"

(post from Labourlist on Saturday by my ward Councillor Seyi Akiwowo)

Earlier this year I received a wave of hateful online abuse and harassment after a video of me speaking at the European Parliament went viral. On one hand, the online world is merely a reflection of the state of our society; on the other hand the online world seems to be a comfortable place for those who know they cannot behave in such a way elsewhere.

My experience is sadly not uncommon and is an indication of how far society has to go to achieve true equality.

That’s why I founded Glitch! UK, an organisation aiming to end online hate speech and online violence against women and girls (OVAWG). Glitch believes that online violence of all forms is a vehicle to divide society and spread fear. Glitch means a temporary malfunction. This glitch of online abuse can of course be fixed and, when we look back on this period of time, we want to be able to say that the rise in online violence and hate speech was only a “glitch” in our history.

Through Glitch, we lobby social media companies to do more to stop online abuse. We have developed a set of recommendations for those firms and we are delivering training workshops for young people. In 2018 will be training online tech companies too.

Earlier this year Diane Abbott, shadow home secretary and Britain’s first black female MP, spoke out about the online abuse she receives on a daily basis. The abuse is so serious that her staff try not to let her out alone.  Sadly, Abbott is not the only MP to receive online abuse, Yvette Cooper, Jess Philips, Tulip Siddiq and David Lammy are only a few of the name names on this list.

In September Amnesty International provided more evidence of the problem. Abbott received almost half (45.14 per cent) of all abusive tweets in the run up to the election. Excluding her, black and Asian women MPs in Westminster received 35 per cent more abusive tweets than white women MPs. Online abuse cuts across party lines, however.

A week later MPs debated abuse and intimidation during the election campaign. Online abuse does not just stop with those in elected office. We have unfortunately seen a rise in online abuse and harassment among party members. Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) agreed to toughen up the party’s stance on internet abuse and published a new social media code of conduct.

This week Amnesty also used an Ipsos Mori poll to show how 23 per cent of women across eight countries said they had experienced online abuse or harassment, ranging from 16 per cent in Italy to a third in the US. Just over a fifth, 22 per cent, of women in Britain experienced online abuse and it is magnified for women from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The impact is real and victims report stress, anxiety or panic attacks as well as lower self-esteem as a result.

So how are we in Labour going to respond and act on his research? We need to immediately acknowledge that language matters and that hateful words can be used to mobiles against a group of people. Therefore, we must challenge the rhetoric of “oh it’s just words, ignore them”. Labour must have a clear process for reporting and investigation of abuse.

Today, on the International Day of the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Labour should lead the way in treating online violence against women and girls in the same way as physical violence.

I urge the party to include educational training workshops as part of manifesto commitments to national education service and a digital economy.

We need training for young people so they can understand what online abuse means and how they can act as good citizens. This should be extended for those who work with young people so they can spot the signs – rather than just issuing bans on phones in schools.

We must train online tech companies and those developing apps and social media platforms. They must learn from the mistakes and glitches of current social media. There are current attempts to fix the online abuse glitch but new platforms should not have them in the first place.

Finally, but by no means least, Labour must demand that social media companies be more accountable and be more transparent with how they enforce their own rules.

Seyi Akiwowo is a councillor in Newham in East London and founder of GlitchUK.

Labour List "Dave Prentis re-elected as UNISON General Secretary"

 "Yesterday also saw the re-election of Dave Prentis as Unison general secretary. Prentis won 49% of the vote against three further left candidates, and the scale of his victory will be welcomed by Labour moderates. While the trade union backed Corbyn this summer, he is a hard-headed operator who has in recent months shown a short tolerance for nonsense.

"Dave Prentis has today been elected as Unison general secretary for a fourth term, topping the all-member election with 49% of the vote – almost double that of second placed Heather Wakefield. Prentis saw off a challenge from three other candidates, all arguably to the left of him, with far-left backed John Burgess finishing in last place with 12%.

The results were:

Dave Prentis 66,155 (49.4%); Heather Wakefield 35,433 (26.4%); Roger Bannister 16,853 (12.6%); John Burgess 15,573 (11.6%).

Turnout was 9.7%, and it is the first time that Prentis has not received more than 50% of the vote – but that is not surprising in a race many felt was a foregone conclusion for long-serving general secretary. The Labour-affiliated public sector trade union has around 1.3 million members, and supported Jeremy Corbyn in this summer’s leadership contest.

Prentis was nominated by 204 branches, eight regional councils, six service groups and the NEC. Reacting to the news of his re-election, he said:

“I am honoured to be re-elected and am delighted that UNISON members have returned me as their General Secretary. Everything I do will start with the concerns of our members around the country who need a union and a General Secretary who is on their side and puts them first.

“The next five years will be difficult ones for our union and for the UK’s public services. We need to stand up against a government set on consigning the public sector to the history books, whose austerity policies are starving communities of the services they relyupon, and holding down the pay and living standards of dedicated public servants.

“The last few months have been challenging, but now the whole union must come together and work relentlessly to fight for public sector workers, their rights at work, their jobs and their pay. I am proud that members have put their trust in me to lead that fight.”

Wakefield was nominated by 82 branches, one regional council, and one service group; Burgess was nominated by 62 branches and one regional council; and Bannister was nominated by 25 branches".

"An Olympic sized legacy for London 2012"

Hat tip David Christie on Labour List

"Many of you may have been one of the countless thousands straining to glimpse a sight of the Olympic torch pass through Central London last Thursday. It had been the same a week before in the host boroughs as huge crowds greeted the Olympic flame in Greenwich, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Waltham Forest and Barking and Dagenham. It is overwhelming how this country has come together to celebrate these games. We must make sure that we use that good will to carry the Olympic spirit into a legacy for people.

When London won the right to host the Olympics and Paralympics in 2005 the promise of a tangible legacy was a fundamental reason for the bids success. In 2007 that promise was restated and augmented with a series of promises by Government including to use the Games to “transform the heart of East London.”

There has long been a view in East London that this should be about more than just the Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park and a few thousand houses. It has to be about the lasting change for this part of London and a reversal of a century of inequality that has existed between the East and the rest of London.

In 2009 and in response the 6 host boroughs published the ‘Strategic Regeneration Framework’, which sets out their objectives to meet this challenge. It is epitomised by the principle of ‘convergence’: that within 20 years the communities who host the 2012 Olympic Games will have the same social and economic chances as their neighbours across London. Central Government and the Mayor of London are on paper signed up to this.

Last year the host boroughs published their record on convergence and there are signs of success, particularly with excellent schools in East London contributing to a good 5 A*-C GCSE rate. But the notable issues of low skills in the working age population, high unemployment and low median incomes remain. Beyond the report, the issues of poor quality housing and overcrowding are a barrier to success.

This is an issue of severe inequality within one of the richest cities in the world. Billions of pounds of public money has been spent, not only on the Olympics and Paralympics but on trying to resolve the health and skills gaps that exist and in the overlarge benefit cheques which result from the failure of those policies. Yet unlike eradication of inequality between nations there is no mass movement campaigning for ending this scar on London’s face.

In parts of East London convergence may be achieved through natural market forces. Areas such as Bethnal Green, Dalston and parts of Stratford are seeing new developments and young professionals moving in who will change the mix of people, the employment levels and the incomes. But do we want the legacy of the Games to be a replacement of the people who live here? Or do we want it to have been a genuine shift in opportunities for people who have lived here their entire lives and those that choose to make East London their home?

Labour should lead for London in embedding the spirit of convergence in our policies and ensure that the power of the Games is truly used to transform lives. These two weeks and the Paralympics will be an amazing celebration for our country; a country which is comfortable taking a centre stage in the world. Let our political leaders now deliver on that promise of legacy that made all this possible".

The thoughts of Chairman John...on Blogging

Mary Honeyball MEP has posted the video of her fringe at Labour Party conference 2010.  You can see my contribution on some of the perils of blogging and a possible potential political benefit here.

The other speakers were Mark Ferguson (Labourlist), Jessica Asato and Kerry McCarthy MP (her video not yet posted).

The fringe I thought was an excellent conference event.  Well done to Mary and her team for putting it on.

(The Guilty Newham 4 - they know who they are will now have an opportunity to understand just what they have missed out on - LOL :)

Blogging for Labour: How social media can drive a wedge into the Coalition.

Hope those of you who are going to this years Labour Party conference will come to this fringe on the Monday evening.

"Blogging for Labour: How social media can drive a wedge into the Coalition". 

I think that anyone going to conference and reading this blog - will be somewhat interested!

Mary Honeyball MEP will chair and the panelists are Jessica Asato; Alex Smith Labour list, Tom Harris MP and moi.

Monday 27 September 18:00 - 19.30. Manchester Central - Charter 1.

UPDATE: see report of the actual fringe here

"Crisis, what crisis?"... CONDEM porkies about National Debt

 You would think from recent announcements by Osborne (and whatever Libdem spokesperson) that we are indeed about to go cap in hand to the IMF at any moment. 

This BBC graph based on IMF figures reported upon yesterday on Labour list by Howard Dawber makes you think "wot?".

Just look at the current and projected debt levels?

This is what Howard said "49. THE WHOLE JUSTIFICATION OF THE DEFICIT REDUCTION PACKAGE

The ConDems have based their whole economic policy on the idea that the economy is tanking, that there is no spare money in government, but that growth is strong enough to cope with a massive reduction in public spending. In their analysis Britain’s deficit and debt puts us on a par with Greece and if we don’t take drastic action the whole economy will collapse. Labour’s plan to halve the deficit in 4 years, generally regarded as ambitious but workable by economists, is too slow. They want to halve it in two years.

Why is it a bad idea? The ConDems have their facts wrong, and on top of that have the wrong strategy as well. Despite being faced with the worst world-wide recession in decades, Labour took brave decisions to support the banks, stimulate the economy and keep spending under control. As a result, unemployment when Labour left office in 2010 was lower than when Labour came to power in 1997. Interest rates remain the lowest they have been for decades. Having got the economy out of recession at the end of last year, growth is now higher than expected – the economy grew by 1.1% from April – June. Unemployment fell in the last quarter and is lower in the UK than the EU average. Our banks have been stable and secure.

And what about our terrible, terrible debt – the reason the Tories keep talking about the “unavoidable” cuts? UK debt as a percentage of GDP reached 68.7% earlier this year and is still rising. That’s not great. But it is comfortably lower than the other G7 countries like Germany, the United States, France, Canada, Italy or Japan. Last time the Tories were in power they put up our debt from 34% of GDP to 51% to help get through the recession of the 1990s. This time they are doing the exact opposite to what most countries around the world agree is the right way to get back into sustainable growth. For a comparison with our major international competitors see this graph. The “savage” cuts programme is not just wrong because it is not based on a real understanding of the economic position of the country, it is wrong because it may reverse the positive trend of growth.

The Bank of England says that the ConDem plans will lead to a slower recovery and higher inflation than previously expected with Labour’s plans.

Finally we taxpayers are already £5bn in profit on the government’s investment in Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland. Within a year of the end of the recession Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling’s decision to step in with funding has been proved not just right but very profitable too. The Tories, incidentally, want to sell these shares off at a loss to benefit their friends in the stockbroking and hedge fund industry".

Derek Draper Resigns as Editor of Labour List

Dear All,
I am emailing directly because I wanted you to know before anyone else does about developments at LabourList.

Two weeks ago I posted on the site saying I was sorry for my role in the Damian McBride affair. Of course I regret ever receiving the infamous email and I regret my stupid hasty reply. Instead I should have said straight away that the idea was wrong.I do ask people to remember, though, that in the end its contents were never published by me or anyone else involved in the Labour party and they would never have seen the light of day were it not for someone hacking into my emails and placing them into the public domain. Because of that, what was a silly idea ultimately destined for the trash can became a national scandal.

Nonetheless, I should have made clear they were unacceptable from the very beginning.On a much smaller note I al so think I got the tone of LabourList wrong sometimes, being too strident, aggressive and obsessed with the "blogosphere".

Having said that I am proud that I was the founder of LabourList. It really was a Labour of love. In just over 100 days there have been nearly 250 contributors, over 500 posts and 18,000 comments. I’d like to think one day I’ll be judged on all of that rather than just one, admittedly awful, email.What has become clear, though, is that my continued editorship can only detract from what LabourList needs to do now.

That is why, after a couple of weeks of reflection, I am passing on the editorship to Alex Smith, who has been a very able Deputy to me from the beginning. I have no doubt that Alex will steer the site to bigger and better things and I urge everyone who wants Labour to have a vibrant, active space on the internet to give him your backing and get involved in whatever comes next.

Derek Draper