Tuesday 26 May 2009

Lambeth By election Update


Out on Saturday and yesterday leafleting with Cllr Becca Thackray and helpers from Greenwich and Brent, also managed to set up a stall on Saturday. We spotted Val Shawcross, Labour Assembly Member for Lambeth and Southwark out on stump and also Mark Harrison, the Labour candidate, also a few Lib Dem councillors.


Yesterday we came across masses of Freepost BNP and UKIP leaflets thrown on the floor outside houses - shows what the postal workers think of them! We also encountered a Labour Party canvassing team who said that they were very depressed and that they were encountering hostility everywhere on the doorsteps. They thought it would be a good election for the Greens. Several voters told me that they would vote Green on June 4th. We were also distributing the London European election campaign leaflet.


There is a local hustings being organised for tonight but unfortunately I cannot go and have sent apologies. Doing the Lambeth Disability Forum hustings on Thursday afternoon and have to ask someone to stand in for me on Thursday at the LGBT hustings as I am booked to do a Euro hustings in Enfield with the UN Association. But I have sent a statement that I am the only candidate who has addressed LGBT issues on their leaflet or referred to it in any shape or form. The Labour Party is quite happy to hand over control of the former Lilian Baylis school to a faith organisation which is intensely homophobic. I have said that this is not acceptable. As usual, Labour tries to have it both ways - playing up to the LGBT community when it wants the pink vote and then kowtowing to homophobic faith groups when it wants theirs. Well that just will not wash with voters who are looking for some sort of integrity and conviction in their politicians.


Interesting to note by the way that the two gay government ministers who have been caught out in the expenses row are now trying to avoid the issue by stating it is all due to homophobia. Pull the other one! Apparently the readers of the LGBT website, Pink News are not impressed.



Now the Labour candidate is claiming that he has singlehandedly managed to get Margaret Beckett, the Housing Minister, to give millions of pounds to Lambeth to reduce council rents, which recently saw the largest increase in the country. A Labour minister giving millions of pounds to a Labour Council. Shurely shome mishtake?

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