‘It wasn’t until the 11th hour that my local Labour Party reached out in a reasoned argument to win the Green Party vote-too little too late’.

I’ve got news for both Romford, and Hornchurch and Upminster Labour parties: right-wing voters in Havering were never going to vote for you! On the other hand, amidst multiple existential crises, you have let children and vulnerable residents down at a time we needed you the most.

Local activist and campaigner Ruth Kettle-Frisby today writes in the Havering Daily on the recent election.

You could almost hear the sigh of mild relief as the nation woke up to discover Labour finally got rid of the Tories. The latter have spent the last fourteen years using their ideology of austerity as an excuse to stampworking people’s rights and public services into the ground. Labour won in spite of Keir Starmer’s failure to rise to the significant challenges of our time – the cost of living; climate change; food shortages. Much like the Tories, Starmer has made it clear that established ideas of economic growth, national security are set to dominate the political agenda.

 The one sigh of relief many of us can muster here in Romford, Hornchurch and Upminster is similarly hollow…only for us it has been a case of narrowly avoiding being represented in parliament by Reform UK. 

 It wasn’t until the 11th hour that my local Labour Party reached out in a reasoned argument to win the Green Party vote; ‘too little too late’ not even beginning to cover its reception.

 When faced with a choice that could be boiled down to pandering to the tyranny of the right-wing majority (who voted for Reform UK and the Conservatives), or upholding the values of social justice, climate action – including clean air – and disabled children’s rights, both local Labour parties chose the former. They have ignored residents at the sharp end of injustice; either explicitly or implicitly distanced themselves from the ULEZ; and voted for policies that compromise the rights and further entrench the oppression of disabled children and their carers.

 I’ve got news for both Romford, and Hornchurch and Upminster Labour parties: right-wing voters in Havering were never going to vote for you! On the other hand, amidst multiple existential crises, you have let children and vulnerable residents down at a time we needed you the most.

 Political trust – just like any form of trust – is earned. These two local Labour parties have lacked the integrity and the will to champion public health, clean air, disabled children’s rights and more. It is their politically-driven choices that have potentially lost them seats at the parliamentary table here in Havering. 

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