The Prince's Ward
by-election Hustings took place on Thursday 30 April 2015 in St
Anselm's Church, Kennington Cross. Prince's Ward is in the north of
Lambeth borough, comprising mainly Vauxhall and Kennington. The most
interesting thing about council by-elections and their hustings is
seeing capitalism in a microcosm and its effects on people at the
local level in Lambeth with regards to housing, libraries and
schools. There was a small demo outside the hustings before it began
– local community activists carrying a 'Hands Off Durning Library'
banner.
Around 50 people turned
out for the hustings and all 6 candidates were there: Danny Lambert,
the Socialist Party candidate, Kingsley Abrams (Left Unity-TUSC),
Labour, Lib-Dems, Green and Tory. Danny stood (all the other
candidates sat down for their speeches/answers as they had nothing to
be excited about to stand up) and gave his 2 minutes opening which
was a concise exposition of the Socialist case.
The Green Party had
some support at the hustings but their candidate was weak. The point
of the Greens seems to be what Caroline Lucas said on BBC Radio 4’s
Today programme, as a group that puts political pressure on Labour
from the left. There was no support for the Lib-Dems and I can't
recall a single thing he said. The Tory candidate was personable and
probably right when he said 'I'm the only candidate here who can
beat Labour' but he had no support there.
The Labour candidate is
a shoe-in to win Prince's Ward, she had lots of support there. But
what a candidate! Mealy-mouthed, charmless, professional Blairite
career politician in the making, a product of the Vauxhall Labour
Party Machine. I thought of Danny's observation 'anyone who wants to
be a politician is the last person you'd want'. The Vauxhall Labour
MP Kate Hoey was in the audience.
Local Lambeth issues
dominated the hustings - 'estate regeneration' or really the housing
crisis in particular Knights Walk, threatened closure of Durning
Library, the need for expansion of the Archbishop Sumner School.
Lambeth Labour Council got in the neck from 4 of the candidates, the
Labour could not stick the boot too much! Even Danny had to agree
that Lambeth Council data is not to be trusted. Another local issue
that has recently developed is the future of the Royal Vauxhall
Tavern future which has been bought by a property developer. The
LGBT community and continuing existence of the RVT supported by all
candidates, although Danny pointed out the inevitability of things
like this happening when we live in an economic system where profit
comes before people's needs.
If I was one of the
community activists at the hustings then my vote would go to Kingsley
Abrams of Left Unity-TUSC. He had some support at the hustings, and
was a very capable speaker. He should be, as he is a professional
local politician, many years experience as a Merton Labour councillor
and Lambeth Labour councillor. His refrain was 'I will never vote
for cuts' but he sometimes spoke of himself in the third person
using his forename! 'Kingsley will never vote for cuts!' He never
once mentioned the word 'socialism' although even Steve Nally,
Trotskyite TUSC candidate at other hustings doesn't either. Abrams is
also LU– TUSC parliamentary candidate in Southwark against Lib Dem
Simon Hughes. Abrams is unusual in that he is not a Trotskyite and is
standing for TUSC. He is Labour left. He praised the so-called
'independence' of Vauxhall Labour MP Kate Hoey who was in attendance
for part of the hustings. I spoke with Simon Hardy (Vauxhall Left
Unity candidate) in Brixton last Saturday, and he said LU were there
to push Labour to the 'left'. So that is the point of Left Unity.
Abrams 'pledges' were
music to the ears of the local activists involved in the Knights
Walk, Durning Library, Archbishop Sumner School campaigns. He got
passionate (although he did not stand up!) talking about
'regeneration' means 'social cleansing', it is a a disgrace, he
proposed rent caps, scrapping the right to buy, scrapping the
bedroom tax (the only time it was mentioned – probably because of
its unpopularity even a Labour government will scrap it if elected on
7 May)
Our socialist Iranian
comrade pointed out to the hustings there were 1 million empty homes,
and that 'housing should be held in common'. On a question of working
with local faith communities, Danny had the best answer when he spoke
about the 'human community', although I feared he was going to do
Marx on religion but really that was me wanting to do a socialist
exposition on 'religion' along the lines of Feuerbach and Marx !
The hustings switched
then to a quasi-Anglican caring capitalism feel when the Vicar's
curate made a statement on the plight of Carers in the borough who
are paid below minimum wage, are on zero hours contracts, and not
paid travel expenses for travelling between clients. Abrams again
gave his support as a trade unionist for UNITE, and representing
TUSC and Left Unity, proposing £10 minimum wage, and the scrapping
of zero hours contracts. I gasped inwardly when the Labour candidate
said the minimum wage of £9.15 was a 'reasonable wage' ! although
nobody at the hustings felt that the Labour candidate had just
revealed her contempt for working people.
Danny pointed out that
the Curate had nicely put into words an indictment of capitalism.
5 of the candidates
want a more 'caring', 'compassionate capitalism', believe capitalism
can be reformed to be better although Danny pointed out several times
that capitalism cannot be made to work in the interests of working
people.
To round off a peculiar hustings the Tory candidate had the best line
right at the end of the hustings when he said 'Finally, what is the
use of words. Let us be seen together in Action' which clinched the
finale, and was taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
SPC
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