International Day of Dignity for Cleaners and Security staff #JusticeDay2017

Picture this evening from outside the front entrance of the British Trade Union Congress (TUC) headquarters in London of members of the SERTUC (South East Regional TUC) International Committee.

Today (June 15) is the International Day of Dignity for Cleaners and Security Staff. We were wearing yellow marigold glove on one hand to show solidarity with cleaners and holding keys with the other for security guards.

hat tip thingy to our top SERTUC International Committee Chair, Bob Archer (4th from left)

The Great Get Together Newham

All the events on one poster! Please share widely

Grenfall Tower Fire - The shock and the horror but East Enders rally to help

Like everyone I was horrified at the news reports and pictures this morning at the fire and destruction of Grenfall Tower in Kensington.  I have been a housing officer in London for the past 25 years and have managed a number of similar high rise residential blocks, I was deeply shocked.

As a Unison trained Health & Safety representative (and member of IOSH)  I have been assured over the years, many, many times that such a thing could "never happen".

I am also a West Ham ward Councillor (London Borough of Newham) and this evening, I had by coincidence, my monthly surgery in the Tenants and Residents room in a 21 storey high rise and a concerned resident, who lived on the 14th floor, did come and ask me what is being done to reassure her and her family that they were safe. She asked if she needed some sort of ladder in her flat?

I have raised a member's enquiry asking for copies of all fire risk assessments for tower blocks in my ward. I have also offered to arrange joint inspections with residents, council officers and ward councillors of all our high rise blocks.

I also asked what has happened to our Newham Housing residents' scrutiny panel which has not met for a long time? Involving residents meaningfully in the management of their homes is crucial to ensuring their safety.

I did also speak tonight to Councillor Terry Paul, who is our Mayoral Advisor on Housing, who assured me that everything possible will be done to make sure our residents are safe and also keep them informed what is being done.

After the surgery, I went to the West Ham Labour Executive meeting in our HQ in Stratford. This evening (not now) our HQ was a base for local residents to drop off donations for Grenfall Tower Residents.

We had some people dropping off bags of donations.  Kay and her Mum, Mrs Brewer, (see above picture of them with Terry and Party member Karl Lewis) from Canning Town, who turned up with a car load of around 15 bags of donations. They explained that Canning Town had many tower blocks and local residents had been pleased to donate.

I dropped off the donations at Coffee7 in Forest Gate (see bottom picture). What a fantastic and generous community response!

Please check with the various charity organisers before dropping off any more donations at any locations.

West Ham General Election day 2017 (we win)

June 8 was not only a political historic day nationally but a busy day locally for all activists. At 4.30am 10 members of West Ham Women's forum were in Ilford North to deliver the "don't forget to vote" leaflets as were other West Hammers in marginal seats around London and Essex.

In West Ham itself we encouraged members on this day to go to either Ilford North or Westminster North marginals although many went to other seats including Dagenham. We had leafleting at our local schools and railway stations and we asked supporters who could not go to marginals to stand outside our polling stations to hand out leaflets.

As the Parliamentary Agent I spent most of the day in West Ham picking up elderly and disabled residents in my car and taking them to the polling station or organising lifts via local activists. I have always found it fascinating to do this. Life long Labour supporters who despite often being in pain and discomfort insisting that they will do their democratic duty and vote for their Party.

The reaction as I drove around with my little UNISON Labour link flag on my car was extremely positive with lots of waves, beeping of horns and flashing of lights apart from one potty mouth yob who received a traditional anglo-saxon visual response.

We had been asked by London Labour Party to arrange for them to be updated on turnout figures at selected polling stations and from noon all "Lyn Brown campaign "or West Ham Labour phone enquiries were diverted to my mobile as everyone else went off to the key marginals.

I had quite a few calls including media enquiries and they were nearly all pretty fascinating. They were predominantly from residents who had never voted and had no idea what to do.  I was asked what happens in the polling station, how do they actually vote, if they could vote via their mobile phone, is their vote secret, do they have to make a cross or a number?

It began to be clear to me that a number of young and old residents who have never voted before were planning to vote.

In the evening I visited a number of West Ham polling stations with our candidate Lyn Brown. She had a fantastic reception in all of them and in some she was actually (I exaggerate slightly) "mobbed" by constituents giving thumbs up, wishing us luck, saying hello and wanting to have their photo taken with her.

In all the polling stations we visited it was clear from talking to Presiding officers that turnout was up. Something was clearly happening. What that was we obviously did not know for certain at that tme.

At 9.45pm I was at the Velodrome in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the Newham Count (West and East Ham).

I met up with our 13 West Ham Count Agents and after a briefing we took our places at our Count to "sample" our vote. I won't say more about this apart than it is really important to do this and find out where your local vote is weak or strong.

I was running around at 10PM but managed to see on the Communal TV the result of the BBC Exit poll that there would be a a hung Parliament, which put a huge smile on my face.

It was a long night. After the sampling was complete we still had to take part in the checking and adjudication process on whether certain ballot papers were properly filled out or not. Including those individuals who had drawn very obscene but usually somewhat amusing cartoons on their ballot papers.

The West Ham declaration was about 3.30am, Lyn was reelected with 46,591 votes, 77% of the electorate an 8.3% increase since 2015.

Afterwards many of us went to the Wanstead Tap bar to watch the results (and drink beer). I went home at about 6.30am feeling so happy but determined. There will rerun some time soon and as long as the Labour movement work together - we will win and form the next government. 

UNISON NDC 17: Havana Club Rum Reception

UNISON National Delegate conference take place next week. For some reason this rum reception is always well supported by delegates! 

Some facts and figures about 8 June

Hat tip to Dave Ratchford for the chart and figures below. Worth reflecting about I think. 

"Labour Share of Vote in recent elections

1983 206 seats 27.6% of the vote 8.4m

1987 229 seats 30.9% of the vote 10m

1992 271 seats 34.4% of the vote 11.5m

1997 418 seats 43.2% of the vote 13.5m

2001 413 seats 40.7% of the vote 10.7m

2005 355 seats 35.2% of the vote 9.5m

2010 258 seats 29 % of the vote  8.6m

2015 232 seats 30.4% of the vote  9.3m

2017 262 seats 40 % of the vote  12.87m

Dave calls the result "Not a win.  But pretty much a victory in my book on the way to winning that war". 

I must agree.

On the Andrew Marr show this morning it was amazing to see George Osborne sticking the knife into Theresa May calling her a "dead women walking". Jeremy Corbyn was interviewed and looked relaxed and confident (while Theresa May was according to Osborne being  "hidden away").

Tonight, speaking to my Mum on Facetime, she told me how proud she was that so many people had seen through the Tories and being brave to vote for Labour despite all the nasty and horrible media attacks.  If we unite, next time we will win.

I must agree (not only as a dutiful son)

Back to real life (but not for long)

As much as I enjoy campaigning, it is has been marvellous to spend a lazy Saturday morning without worrying about deadlines, printing off walks, knocking on doors and dealing with the inevitable problems and frustrations suffered by election agents of all parties in all 650 seats.

It was great to have the time off this afternoon to attend the 1st birthday party for my Great Niece, Teagan.

Of course, I could not resist some very subtle subliminal influencing when handing over her bag of pressies.

I will enjoy the rest but fully expect to be back on the General Election campaign trail again sometime soon. Bring it on.

West Ham General Election Result June 2017

Picture collage from our Count in the early hours of this morning. A fantastic result for team Lyn Brown. As Agent I was so proud of all our West Ham activists, who have tirelessly campaigned near and far for a Labour Government. Which of course we have not got (yet). 

Lyn has very "generously" given us 2 weeks off. Then back to the grind. Personally, I can't see this Tory/Ulster Unionists coalition lasting very long. 

I was post further on Election Day when I recover.

"West Ham Constituency:

Elected: Lyn Brown, Labour Party, 46,591

Others: Patrick Spencer, Conservative Party, 9,837; Michael Spracklin, Green Party, 957; Kayode Shedowo, Christian People’s Alliance, 353; Rosamund Beattie, UKIP, 1,134; Paul Reynolds, Liberal Democrats, 1,836.

The turnout was 65%. The total number of votes cast was 60,708. The number of ballot papers rejected was 161. Lyn Brown polled 36,754 votes more than her nearest rival".

I think that is 77% of the vote. How humbling is that.

Vote Labour Today - For the Many Not the Few

Polls close 10pm tonight

You do not need your polling card to vote. Just go to the polling station and give your name and address.

If you don't know where your polling station is click here

If you are a postal voter and have not yet voted you can take it to any polling station (in your Parliamentary seat area) and hand it in

If you can't find your postal vote or have filled it in wrongly you can get a new one by applying to your returning officer by 5pm today.

"Theresa May's policing policy is based on a lie, says Labour's acting Shadow Home Secretary Lyn Brown"

Check out Mirror report "Lyn Brown has stepped in to replace Diane Abbott as acting Shadow Home Secretary - here's what she thinks of Theresa May's record on policing

The past two weeks have been traumatic, and the nation mourns for the victims of the despicable attacks in Manchester and London.

People are rightly concerned about whether the cuts to our police have increased our vulnerability to terror. But that is far from the only problem those cuts have caused.

The bottom line is that the Tory policy on policing is based on a lie: they have said it is okay that police funding has been cut because crime is falling. But that’s not true.

First of all, the latest data shows that violent crime, which includes offences that have the most devastating impact like homicide and knife crime, is increasing, as is credit card fraud.

And second, the type of crime is changing: it is more international, more online, and increasingly likely to involve vulnerable people, including children.

Crimes are more complex and so more costly to prevent and respond to than in the past.

But there’s another big reason why Tory complacency on policing is so wrong.

The horrible truth is that with such dramatic cuts across the whole of our public services, the police are having to pick up the pieces.

The official inspector for policing, Sir Tom Winsor, recently described police cars being called because ambulances weren’t available. People in the middle of a mental health crisis are being locked up in police cells because they simply wouldn’t be safe anywhere else.

It’s not hard to see that the job description for a policeman or woman in Britain has been stretched way beyond preventing crime.

Faced with these pressures, at the very least you would think that the government would have sought to prioritise the cash it does have to the places that need it most.

But that hasn’t happened either. Instead, they have just salami-sliced budgets year after year regardless of the differing needs in different parts of the country.

So much so that we’ve seen another lie – as recently as 18 months ago they said they would protect budgets after inflation. That hasn’t happened, and when individual police forces express concern the government just tells them to raise what they need through council tax, even though that is impossible in poorer parts of the country.

Overall, since 2010, under Theresa May, police numbers have been cut by 20,000.

It’s time for the Tory deceit to stop. Labour understands that to have a well-functioning police force it needs to be well-resourced.

We are committing to provide funding to the 43 forces across England and Wales to hire an extra 10,000 officers operating in community policing roles – equivalent to another bobby on the beat in every neighbourhood.

This will help our police services to be more effective in every respect, not only dealing with anti-social behaviour and complex criminal investigations, but creating more of the community relationships and intelligence that stop terror attacks in their tracks.

We’ll pay for this by reversing cuts to capital gains tax that only give money to those who are already well off.

We’ve had enough of the security of the many being put at risk so the pockets of the wealthy few can be filled with tax cuts. The truth of is that our police force needs better support and better funding. Only a Labour government will deliver it.