Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
St Ann's By Election - who is standing?
Does anyone know who is standing in the upcoming By Election?
The only incumbent Councillor in the ward who actually does anything is standing down due to disgust with Haringey Labour and the Starmer regime.
Turnout is typically low 20%. I imagine it will be even lower again. If the Greens, LibDems or even Reform put up a credible local candidate they stand a very decent chance of winning.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brian Mahoney
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I think the standard way of managing such issues is to refer to the person's heritage first and adopted/acquired nationality second. So, Mr Tawiah would be Ghanaian-British. A British-Ghanaian would be a person of British heritage who has adopted/acquired Ghanaian nationality such as the child of a Scottish or Northern Irish family who was born in Accra.
Incidentally, I worked in Ghana some years ago. Being a former British colony, much of its legal framework is based on our own which has underpinned its relative success and stability since independence. A beautiful country.
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Black Boy Lane? Or... did you mean La Rose Lane? Not sure if you know what happened to that street. In 2023 the Labour Council forcibly renamed it to La Rose Lane on the basis of blurry and quite ill-founded theories that "Black Boy Lane" was linked to racism and slave trade, spending certainly more than £50k, possibly up to £130k.
81% of residents (many of them actually Black) were against it. The Council asked them in a consultation!! But went ahead anyway with their virtue-signalling publicity stunt, only to find the defaced street signs the morning after.
What a great story of inclusivity! (I will ask the Leader of the Council to bring about renaming plans for "White City" in West London!!)
Don't get me wrong, the Labour candidate looks like a nice guy and well prepared, but I wouldn't vote for someone only because they are a lawyer. I mean, would you vote for Kier Starmer again now? He's a lawyer.
I also would be cautious in saying that he'll be "influencing matters". It is quite well-known that the Labour Councillors who tried, had a hard life. Tammy was one of them and resigned.
So, I think you should reconsider your doubts on an "isolated" Green Councillor. I think it's quite the opposite, if only because being there on their own, they will be pushed to do even better for the people in the ward and the wider Borough.
The Green candidate is Ruairidh Patton, works for a charity, looks pretty down-to-earth and hands-on. His agenda is centred on improving the local green spaces such as Chestnuts Park - which recently lost the Green Flag status - but also housing: addressing the dire state of Council estates in the ward and tackling the private rent crisis.
Why not?
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Yes, forever Blackboy Lane. Resistance lives on among those who actually live there and thereabouts.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter
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THERE are too few Members who are prepared to stand up for their principles.
And publicly, when it counts.
One who did in connection with Black Boy Lane—and much to his credit—was African-born, "mixed-race" Councillor Eldridge Culverwell (Labour, Stroud Green Ward).
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The Green Party candidate looks good. There is dire need for an alternative to Labour in the wards and a viable opposition in the Council. The Greens were only a little more hundred votes short of defeating Labour in St. Ann's in 2022. When it comes to casework a non-ruling group councillor may prove more responsive and effective. In the Council chamber the current Labour Group appear gagged and bound by the whip of a self-serving local leadership slavishly obedient to national diktats. https://haringey.greenparty.org.uk/2025/03/12/introducing-our-candi...
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Permalink Reply by Pamela Harling
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The final list of candidates is not confirmed yet but the Green Party candidate is Ruairidh Paton. Ruairidh works for Green New Deal Rising - a youth climate action group fighting for a fairer, greener future. His top priorities are bringing a new voice to the council on affordable housing and rent controls, repairing council properties, improving green spaces and community spaces and listening to the residents of St.Ann's.
Pamela Harling - co-chair Haringey Green Party
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson
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Seven candidates have thrown their hats in the ring
https://www.haringey.gov.uk/council-elections/elections-voting/st-a...
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Here's a bit of information about the Conservative candidate albeit from an earlier election.
https://enfielddispatch.co.uk/meet-the-candidates-wanting-to-repres...
Is there any information about the other candidates?
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Well there's someone from 'The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition', an organisation which is literally and openly Trotskyist, and another from the Communist League. Both are even further to the extreme left than the Momentum faction which is so influential within Haringey Labour. They might get a few votes from family and friends but thankfully not from anyone with their head screwed on or who went to school.
There is a Reform candidate about which I know nothing. However, given the rise in Reform voters nationally and the dawning realisation among many that a lot of the country's problems result from uncontrolled immigration, he might get a few votes. And before I'm edited I will reiterate that this is not a racist viewpoint, it's simple common sense. We need some immigration to fill genuinely high skilled vacancies but not the uncontrolled immigration that has swamped public services, created housing shortages/rental costs and threatened social cohesion (all issues affecting people of immigrant backgrounds as well as the majority populatiom). Quite what he can do about that as a councillor in Haringey remains to be seen but if enough people vote for Reform the influence will trickle upwards and inform national policies.
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Thanks Gordon. I did go to school and also studied history so, no, I won't be voting for Communists or Trotskyists. Nor, I suppose will anyone whose family comes from Eastern Europe.
I also have many reservations about the Greens but will vote for them this time round. I'm loaning them my vote because they are best placed to oust Labour in St Anns. If they plant a few trees and take tangible steps to reduce congestion and make the roads safer for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians that would be a bonus.
The Conservatives have never really contested the ward. They do put people up but never anyone of consequence or who lives within the ward or who has a list of locally informed actions in a coherent plan.
I don't know about the Reform candidate but given this is the first time that Reform have stood locally and because their priority is national politics rather than local issues I doubt they will get many votes. Certainly not enough to oust Labour.
Turnout is usually very low in St Anns (consistently low 20%) and Labour only beat the Greens by a hundred or so votes last time so I do hope people who don't normally vote make the effort this time. Failure to vote isn't a protest it just means you and your views are disregarded.
So why not Labour? Simply, they've had enough chances and repeatedly done nothing with them. Councillors are absent and unresponsive (not just the last lot). The Harringay Levels is the most liveable part of Harringay, quiet, mostly clean, and friendly but we still have our share of anti-social behaviour and open drug dealing. We've been neglected for too long and deserve better, active councillors.
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And they spent hundreds of thousands renaming Blackboy Lane, despite the express wishes of local residents simply to orchestrate a few likes on Twitter or whatever its called.
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