Election Result: First Thoughts

Our votes were squeezed in the General Election with many voters indicating sympathy but feeling that they had to vote Labour or Lib Dem to keep out the Tories.  Nonetheless we had a solid core of support registering around 1.5% in the three parliamentary constituencies.  Barry Gardiner won Brent North with an increased vote, Sarah Teather just beat Dawn Butler in Brent Central and Glenda Jackson won Hampstead and Kilburn.

The Tories were swept aside in the Brent Council elections, reduced to only six seats but there were also many Lib Dem losses. The new council is Labour 40, Lib Dem 17 and Conservative 6. In several wards there is mixed party representation. Greens polled strongly in some wards giving us the foundation for further  advances.

Labour activists were taken aback by the scale of their victory and were at a loss to explain why they polled so strongly despite the national picture. Some pointed to the  impact of having a General Election  and local election on the same day and felt the General Election had pulled in voters who would not have bothered to vote in a local election, with many just following on their General Election with a vote for the same party in the locals. Some people elected as Labour councillors were frank about their shock as they hadn't expected win and had stood on that basis. Now they suddenly find their lives changed with new and time consuming responsibilities.

Robert Wharton, the Lib Dem lead on Children, Families and Schools, who was responsible for the ARK Academy, lost his seat.  However we will have to continue to battle on this front as it was the Labour Party whose votes, combined with those of the Lib Dems, enabled the Academy to go ahead in the face of Tory opposition. We will also continue to put forward the abolition of  SATs against opposition from the other parties. It is really disapppointing that, despite the NUT and NAHT boycott, 53 out 55 Brent primary schools are going ahead with the SATs next week. The SATs are narrowing the curriculum, reducing teaching to exam preparation, and undermining the joy of learning. Year 6 pupils have been keen supporters of our policy!

We will also have to work hard with other local environmental groups to pressure the new Council to act decisively and radically on climate change. Labour councillors failed to turn up to a public meeting on this issue and have not been at the forefront of demands for action.  We will also be looking to see the promised review of the Civic Centre proposal result in the scarpping of the project.

I would like to thank everyone who voted Green for their support. Please don't get down-hearted because we still have no elected councillors. We are a campaigning party, and as out last Newsletter showed we have achieved a lot without council representation. Any objective oberserver will recognise that a committed campaign can achieve more than a councillor who after an election disappears into obscurity.

We were congratulated by people from all parties at the count on Caroline Lucas's victory in Brighton Pavilion. It is great news but our policies are radical and she will be a incisive and passionate advocate of strategies that are sharply different from those of the 'old' parties. They will find her a formidable presence in the new House of Commons.

Elders should consider a Green vote

It is a pity that the Green Party were not invited to the Elders Voice election hustings. We have policies on pensions and carers that are well worth debate.

We want a Citizen's Pension that would be paid unconditionally to all pensioners in the UK at the rate of the official poverty line (currently £170pw for someone living alone and £300 for couples). It would be linked to average earnings. Pensions Credits, which are often not claimed because of the perceived stigma of means testing, would be abolished.

We are committed to a more generous Carer's Allowance, raising it to £80pw from the current £53.10 for a 35 hour week, and increased support to people who want to give care. We will address the issue of child carers under 16 who receive no financial support at all, often working long hours, experiencing emotional stress, and never having the chance to play.

We are very concerned at reductions in the services to people in sheltered housing and would oppose plans to switch to 'floating styles' of support rather  than residential. We are committed to the national health service and oppose public service cuts and privatisation.

Youth Go Green

An enthusiastic school student hailed me last night when I was leafleting:  'Hey you're Green. We just voted for you!' She went on to explain that Year 7 had held an election today at Wembley High School and that the Greens had topped the poll with 56 votes, 10 more than Labour.

Someone else told me that Year 6 children from a local primary had run into the school clutching the Green Party's Brent North postcard, excitedly telling their teacher the Greens were going to abolish SATs, and that they would be voting Green.  She gently told them that it might not happen in time for them to avoid the tests next week.  Perhaps their headteacher will take note and operate the NAHT/NUT boycott.

It's good to know the kids are with us!

What new station Barry?

Barry Gardiner was busy leafleting Wembley PARK station this morning with a leaflet praising the new station at Wembley CENTRAL, which was all down to him apparently.

He claims, 'The new station has rejuvenated the whole of Wembley High Road. New homes - new shops - new jobs. All thanks to the New Station' (and Barry of course).

The problem is that there is no new station at Wembely Central - all that has happened is the old frontage has been demolished and the booking office remains in a sort of allotment shed. Regular users of the staion will know about flooded floors, destination indicators that don't work, and the occasional platform entertainment from rats - not to mention lifts that are still to be installed. There is still no platform level connection between the Bakerloo/Overground platforms and the Southern service from East Croydon to Milton Keynes.

Work on the new station was dropped when the money ran out and there is an on-going row about whose fault it is.  Perhaps as Barry claims responsibility for the new station being built, he should now admit responsibility for the fact that it hasn't.

This does make you wonder how well Barry knows his local area.  Passengers receiving the leaflets seem to have made up their minds pretty quickly about what they thought of it - dumping the leaflet when they picked up their copy of Metro.

Ten Reasons to Vote Green on May 6th

If you  still haven’t made up your mind how to vote here are the Green Party’s top ten policies from our costed manifesto. The full version can be read online at www.greenparty.org.uk 

1.       Stabilising the economy

 

Regulate the financial sector, permanently tax bankers’ bonuses and introduce the Robin Hood tax on international financial transactions, while reducing corporation tax for small firms.

2.       Creating jobs

 

Create one million jobs in areas such as local manufacturing and food production, public transport, renewable energy, home insulation and repairing and recycling goods. 

3.       Education

 

Abolish formalised SATs testing for 11 year olds and reduce the huge paperwork burden on teachers. Protect schools and universities from cuts and privatisation, and abolish university fees.

4.       Protecting public services

Protect public services from cuts and privatisation: keep the NHS public, protect Sure Start nurseries, re-open Post Offices, abolish charges for prescriptions and dentistry.

5.       Pensions and care for the elderly

 

Introduce free social care for the elderly as in Scotland and raise the basic state pension to £170 a week.

6.       Affordable housing

 

Take action to ensure that the million empty homes nationwide are brought back into use; introduce free home insulation for all homes within 5 years; and enable local councils to build new council housing again.

7.       Transport

Redirect transport funding towards public transport, regulate the buses and renationalise the railways to ensure we have affordable and reliable public transport in the future. Improve cycle routes and pedestrian safety measures.

8.       Youth facilities

 

Double spending on out of school services for young people to give them something to do and somewhere to go and introduce a national youth volunteering programme for the under 18s.

9.       Climate change and energy security

The UK should lead the world by example in tackling climate change: energy efficiency measures in buildings, reducing travel miles by providing services like Post Offices locally and localising the economy, investment in renewable energy rather than nuclear power.

10.   Democracy and Parliamentary reform

 

Replace the House of Lords with a fully elected second chamber; decentralise power to local councils and communities; restrict the lobbying power of big business over MPs; prevent MPs from holding directorships and consultancies that stop them being full-time MPs and may result in conflicts of interest.

Notes from North Brent

It is a strange old election.  Barry Gardiner is running a campaign that at first glance makes him look like an Independent candidate relying on a personality cult to get himself elected. This pamphlet bears no red colour and you have to search for the sole mention of the Labour Party embedded in the text. It is all about Gardiner's family life.

Children leaving Fryent Primary School who were upset when Barry's red balloons ran out were bemused to be offered large stickers of Barry's smiling face instead. One boy angrily demanded where he could find a blue balloon...

The Liberal Democrats are conspicuous by their absence - presumably they are all concentrating on Teather's campaign in Brent Central. Harsh Patel is saturating the constituency with a plethora of leaflets which are distributed by an army of teenagers.  This could be counterproductive as residents have started complaining about the junk coming through their letter boxes. It is noteworthy that this effort hasn't resulted in a forest of Tory posters.

It may be straws in the wind, or deliberate misinformation, but a senior Tory encountered whilst leafleting said that 'It was turning out better than I thought it would be', while a Labour Party member, charged with telephoning supporters said he had found it hard to motivate people.

Atik Maliq, erstwhile Conservative and Democratic Consertvative councillor, seems to be concentrating on getting his posters into shop windows, though a barbers in Preston Road has both Conservatives, Patel and Malik, in their window.  Malik faced a front page blast from the Willesden and Brent Times last week which reported an unspecified allegation against him and revived comments he made about Sharia law and the whipping of unmarried women who engaged in sexual activity. Any publicity is good publicity?

Meanwhile the demise of the Democratic Conservative Group remains a mystery. They were apparently set up to contest five wards and had collected all the requisite signatures. One version has it that their leader Robert Dunwell, deciding at the last minute that he could use his time and skills better elsewhere; the other that their nominations were deemed inadmissable because of the use of Conservative in the title and there was no time left to redo the nomination forms.

I was leafleting outside Kingsbury Green Primary School with the Independent candidate,  Jannen Vamadeva and witnessed a wonderful encounter. A mum came running up to collect her child and paused to look the tall, Obama-esque figure up and down. She took in his full glory and said, 'Gaawah! I'm goin' to vote for you anytime!' On the way out I tried to interest her in some policies even though I could not match Jannen's appearance.

Canvassing in Brent North reminds you that Wembley is built on hills and my calf muscles are developing well. Traversing the hills you can imagine what the countryside was like before Metroland was built but you also see how the original suburban concept has been vandalised. I lived on the Vally Farm estate (the area between Kingsbury Road and Fryent Way) as a child  and remember the treelined roads and front gardens full of scented flowers.  On the whole estate I could find only a handful of intact front gardens. Most had been turned into car parks without a blade of grass, flower or shrub in sight. The rowan trees that used to line Crundale Avenue have all gone.  On Barn Hill someone who had retained their garden told me that residents had been complaining about the cherry trees spilling their blossom on cars and wanted to rid of them!

Meanwhile I am finding a positive reception amongst many voters and the TV debates seem to have revived interest, albeit in personalities rather than policies. They seem to have turned every other person into a political pundit. One voter, who lives in a house called Camelot, claimed the media were ignoring the fact that governments were made in marginal constitiuencies rather than the percentage vote and predeicted a small Tory majority.

Discussions about 'wasted votes' are coming up regularly but I urge people to vote Green on the basis of their principles, because every party has to start somewhere, that local Green councillors could make an enormous impact, and to demonstrate after the General Election that a high Green vote emphasises the need for a proportional voting system.

We are a small party with no big business backers and need all the practical help we can get.  If you can volunteer in the last couple of days please get in  touch.

Greens Support Kilburn College

Last night's meeting about the closure of Kilburn College was crowded, angry and militant. Lecturers, students and local residents came together to denouce the closure plans and put forward ideas for active resistance. The main political party candidates for Hampstead and Kilburn spoke platitudes from the platform and soon disappeared.

Speaking from the floor, Peter Murry, an ex-lecturer at Kilburn and a council candidate for  the Brent Kilburn ward spoke passionately of this attack on local people who face challenges such as learning English and getting into employment. He outlined how further education could transform their lives and said that the removal of their access to education was a crime. He supported calls for non-violent direct action and remarked that such tactics were a proud Green Party tradition. He called for further education colleges to be brought back under local authority control.

Bea Campbell, Green Party parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn, spoke about how further education had improved her parents' life chances and suggested that another dimension to the campaign should be a legal route.  She urged the campaign to seek legal assistance to use the recent Equalities legislation to show that the community had not been properly consulted on the proposals, (now a statutory requirement).

Students from the ethnic minority communites spoke movingly of their attachment to their local college and the difference it had made and was making in their lives. There were accounts of the shock they had felt when the announcement was made and their feelings of being completed disregarded by the college governors.

A large number of people, including Green Party members, volunteered to be part of a delegation to the college governors, to try and persuade then to reverse their decision.

Kilburn - Blame Privatisation

Peter Murry, Green Party candidate for Kilburn ward, looks ahead to Friday's Save Kilburn College meeting at the Kingsgate Community Centre, Kingsgate Road, NW6 (7pm).

As a Green Party candidate for Kilburn ward in the council elections and a former lecturer at the College of North West London’s old Kilburn site and retired member of the college’s UCU branch, I am obviously concerned about the closure of the new Kilburn building and its impact on students and staff. This will drastically reduce educational provision for adults in the Kilburn area, many of who are BME communities and women.

However, although I support the campaign against closure the present funding current management arrangements limit the power of any local council or MP to reverse the decision.

The root of the problem lies in earlier government policies of the quasi-privatisation of Further Education that took place in the 1990's. This took the control of Colleges out of the control of local government, which whatever its faults, had some democratic accountability. Now colleges with large budgets are controlled by governing bodies which are in effect self perpetuating quangos that often just rubber-stamp management decisions