Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Dear local election candidates - my bucket list
I've been reading the various posts and leaflets from the parties standing candidates in Harringay ward and have come to conclusion that what I want (my personal preference) is as follows
As it's inevitable that Labour will be in the majority (please don't try to deny that candidates, you know it's the case) an effective opposition that really hold the Cabinet to account for their actions and promises.
Local candidates of any party who make realistic commitments to local people about local issues, not national ones, that they will deliver and if they can't, tell us why and what they are doing about it.
Candidates who don't just materialise at election time and even if they are not elected keep plugging away between elections.
Candidates who respond to questions with answers, not cleverness or rudeness.
Anyone else have a wish list?
Tags for Forum Posts: 2014 elections
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Thanks Lydia. The comment on the Labour majority is aimed at all non-Labour candidates, not just the Conservatives ( see Chris' response from the Greens above). If you get elected I'm afraid you'll have to get used to irritating questions!
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Permalink Reply by Cllr Emina Ibrahim on
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Hello Michael
I do take your point about candidates who materialise at election time and then disappear. I think that can leave residents angry – what I would also say is that Jonathan Velapah is an example of someone who didn’t do that and the amount of work he puts in for the ward is amazing. Jonathan has been out on the doorstep without fail since 2010 but simply chose not to stand again this time. I did choose to stand for the first time and within the Labour Party we have a selection process and this means that no one can decide unilaterally that they are the candidate for the ward prior to this process. However I have been on the doorstep in Harringay ward since 2010.
Of course first time candidates like me and James face an uphill struggle as it’s only natural that incumbents have the advantage on being able to engage with residents in an official capacity and that’s right, they should they are the elected members. I also certainly wouldn’t as Karen points out make promises as a candidate that I cannot keep.
I really do think that communities benefit from rigorous debates during elections because they need to know what and who they are being asked to vote for. My great hero is Tony Benn – he said ask 5 questions of the powerful: What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? How can we get rid of you? Sorry Karen with wry smile on my face I am sure you accept that you are in a position of power too
These questions apply to Cllrs of all political persuasions and being a member of a ruling group does not mean that a Cllr cannot challenge the Cabinet on issues that affect their ward. In fact, I have seen the biggest challenge in Haringey coming from Labour Party Cllrs and members – the forced academies debate being one of them. That battle continues and we can see what has happened with E-ACT Hartsbrook and the creaming off by the sponsor of the Pupil Premium meant for children in Tottenham.
I must say that I am often disappointed when I hear abdications of responsibility simply because a Cllr is not a member of the ruling group or not a Cabinet member. All Cllrs receive the same basic expenses and your answerability should never be based on position or hierarchy. Cllrs have the same legal responsibilities and whether that means asking the Cabinet the right questions or making proper use of the scrutiny function there is no excuse for saying “it’s beyond my control” if you haven’t properly challenged. If anyone receives a penny from the public purse to represent people then they have no less collective responsibility then the person who receives 2pence. If you believe something is wrong then stand up and fight for it, if you don’t believe your national party is right – don’t walk away I think Karen is right on that. There are deal breakers of course and I would argue that the coalition has broken a lot of deals. What I do think is that any member of a party should stand up and challenge rather than staying silent.
The root of my politics is in the Labour movement and that is of course very much broader then party politics. Michael I cannot offer you a non Labour message but will say that there are many Labour messages in the borough – we don’t always agree with each other but we hold the same basic values.
Emine Ibrahim
Labour Party Candidate (Harringay Ward)
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Permalink Reply by Gordon Peters on
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I think what is needed in Haringey is a challenge to the taken-for-granted, austerity-driven agenda of the current Council and of the three larger parties.
Local campaigns on schools, on defending the NHS against privatising and for more and better mental health care at St.Anns, on local traders and residents rights at Wards Corner, on a listening to and involving communities in any regeneration as a real and better alternative to swanning off to Cannes to seduce rich investors, are what should matter more to the Council.
There is great wealth and skill in the people and the capacity to mobilise them. For instance several thousand Latin Americans are not even recognised as an ethnic minority.
If elected in Alexandra ward for the Green Party I would fight for social and environmental justice from the Council. And that includes helping families and individuals threatened by the Bedroom Tax, and both campaigning within the Council and at large, wherever it counts, for rent controls and a regime which will actually limit rent exploitation and provide decent homes [not just a few so-called affordable homes in prime new real estate.
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Permalink Reply by Chris Henderson on
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What I'm trying to do as a Green Party candidate (Tottenham Green ward) is shine a spotlight on the three largest parties - the national level is relevant because it says a lot about the parties' overall values, culture and ability to deliver... Few people can be excited about voting for Haringey Lib Dems right now, and with all due respect to local Lib Dem activists who aren't to blame for Nick Clegg, it's not a surprise. But then the conversation does need to be translated to the local level.
Haringey Labour has lots of good, conscientious councillors and activists, but I believe that as an institution Haringey Labour has become tired and complacent over its 43 years of uninterrupted rule.
We need a progressive alternative and in Haringey the Green Party are working very hard to achieve this. I'm delighted to be running on the 5 points of our summary manifesto (http://www.haringeygreens.org.uk/manifesto_summary) calling for a local green new deal, protection of local public services, a more equal Haringey, a better deal for young people, and a greener calmer Haringey.
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The private rental market isn't one of the topics I'd try to speak for the party on. But undoubtedly if Greens were swept to power in Haringey Civic Centre this 22nd May (
) we'd engage a lot of expert help with our bravest and most radical policies such as this one.We'd have our work cut out because central Government these days only wants to allow councils to act as Government's local implementation agents. But Green councillors will always be a pain in the arse to the Coalition Government's millionaire-enrichment agenda and talk about real people instead.
If elected as a minority Council group, we will scrutinise the Haringey Council administration relentlessly to see if they're grasping every single opportunity to be more progressive. 'Fairer rents' and 'better landlords' must be highly popular sentiments across Harringay and Haringey.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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FPR we do not need politicians to impose rent barriers, we just need a unionised tenancy sector and this should be possible to organise with social media. Of course I would expect a few people to end up in jail and beaten in the early stages but that happened when the workforce was unionised too. This would work because so many landlords own multiple properties. The trick is in the organising and solidarity.
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Used to have this wonderful thing called controlled rents for many years until the early 80s (I think). The Rent Officer service would decide on a reasonable rent for a property and a tenant could go to them for rent setting. I lived in a rent controlled flat I shared with two other people in 1979 and 1980. Couldn't have possibly afforded to live in central London otherwise. Abolished by the Thatcher government as I remember.
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Permalink Reply by David Schmitz on
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This is almost entirely correct. Under the Rent Acts (of which the most recent was passed in 1977) Tenancies which were created by agreement between the landlord and the tenant were called "protected tenancies" and when they expired or were brought to an end by notice, they became "statutory tenancies". In both instances the rents chargeable (called "fair rents") were determined by a rent officer or on appeal by a rent tribunal and the tenant could not be removed, save for one of a very limited number of reasons.
The regime was brought to an end (but not retrospectively) by the Housing Act 1988 which came into force in 1989. Although that was the work of the Thatcher government, no-one has since touched it, probably because the Rent Acts tended to cause the supply of rental properties to dry up. The abolition of rent assessment, and most importantly, of security of tenure, led to an increase in rental properties, though with unfortunate results in the affordability of rents and in the quality of provision offered.
There have been unintended consequences to the abolition of the Rent Acts, particularly in the case of Council properties where the tenants had been exercising the right-to-buy since about 1981. What happened was that many former council flats became buy-to-let properties, with the tenants enjoying little or no protection.
My opinion is that this area is ripe for review, though the answers are by no means obvious.
David Schmitz
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In the last election in Haringey, the GLA 2012 elections, the Greens finished second behind Labour in 9 of Haringey's 19 wards. Harringay was one of them.
http://data.london.gov.uk/datafiles/transparency/gla-elections-vote...
There are Green councillors in Camden and Lewisham.
(I am a Green Party candidate, Tottenham Green ward)
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Karen has covered the main points which you have very helpfully raised, but I’d like to add one further point and amplify on a couple of others.
You have posed the challenge as to what we would do as opposition councillors in the event of what you consider to be an inevitable Labour majority in the next Council administration.
In her posting here, Karen resisted the temptation to comment on the May result, which of course is entirely a matter for the voters. Because I have somewhat less will power than she does, however, I’d like to make a comment and to say clearly that a Labour majority is by no means assured.
We have an excellent slate of candidates, both in the wards where we elected councillors last time (and remember we elected 23 of them), and also in other wards where we made a strong showing. If these candidates are elected, and they are certainly working extremely hard to that end, then we will take control of the Council.
In 2006 we won two seats in Bounds Green and Noel Park, and although we slipped back in 2010, we are in a much better position there now than we were then. One needs only mention the scandalous neglect of the Council’s properties in the Noel Park estate – a conservation area which could be a jewel in this Borough’s crown – in order to see just how ready residents in these wards are for change.
If the voters in Harringay return Karen and me and if they also elect our truly excellent colleague, Asha, then we need only win these two wards in order to achieve a majority. And if you bear in mind (to give just two examples of nearby Wards) that during the last two elections we have been very much in contention in Woodside and that the Labour party in St. Ann’s is in complete meltdown for reasons I need not repeat, it can be seen that the prospects of a Lib Dem administration are by no means remote.
We are about to publish our manifesto. It is a serious piece of work undertaken for the purpose of answering what we would do if the governance of this Borough were entrusted to us. I hope it will be discussed here and elsewhere.
Perhaps even more important, though, is the fact that if we form the next administration, residents will see far more competent management and far less waste.
We would not, as the previous administration did in the case of Sharon Shoesmith, hold a press conference before a disciplinary hearing, in order to announce that its result was a foregone conclusion – thus leaving the Council open to very substantial damages.
We would not spend Council taxpayers money on trips to the Riviera, nor would we give the appearance of a loss of impartiality by accepting a subsidy from property developers for such a trip.
We would not upgrade properties which we were about to knock down.
And so on.
How can we promise that? We are a hardworking and inquisitive team that knows how to ask hard questions and to refuse to accept half answers, whether from council officials or anyone else. We will give a clear lead to our often excellent officials in order to enable them to reach their full potential.
Lastly, I’d like to elaborate on Karen’s point about our role in helping residents. Much of our work is done out of the public eye and involves helping people in personal difficulties. It could mean attending at Apex House to help a family which has just been evicted by a landlord, or querying a benefits decision or chasing up road repairs, or asking why a child has yet to get a school place.
It involves being, for the residents here, a face to the faceless bureaucracy. My filling of that role was described (in what is probably the nicest thing that anyone has ever said about me) on HoL here http://www.harringayonline.com/forum/topics/in-praise-of-david-schm...
Whichever way the result may go in May in the Borough at large, I promise that Karen, Asha and I will continue to be a voice for the residents of this Ward and a useful port of call to them whenever they are in difficulty.
David Schmitz
Liberal Democrat Councillor for Harringay Ward
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Permalink Reply by Justin Hinchcliffe on
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Thank you, Michael.
You are, of course, right that Labour is not only set to retain their already iron-grip of the Civic Centre but strengthen it at the expense of the LDs. You have to admire Cllr Schmitz' optimism --but it ain't going to happen.
The LDs succeeded in Haringey, esp in Hornsey and Wood Green, by positioning themselves as being to the left-of-Labour (remember how they hit Roache over top-up fees and the Irag War, to name just two?). At the same time, they managed to convince a huge number of Conservative voters to 'lend' their vote to them to "stop" Labour. Quite clever really, wasn't it?
The last election was inconclusive. They had to take sides with us or Labour. And they would have taken a pasting it they had gone into coalition with Labour, too (remember the vast majority of LibDem MPs represent former Conservative seats). It's their own fault for attempting to out-do us in Conservative-held rural and suburban seats, and out-do Labour in urban ones.
Locally, their councillors have never really risen to the challenge (and paid duty!) of holding this administration to account. Two of their councillors left them to sit as independents and several of them rarely attended meetings, let alone participated in them. To give an example, the last Full Council meeting of Haringey Council, last month, saw two LD councillors missing, two leave early and one vote against her own party's motion. That's not effective opposition, isn't it? A few of their councillors were good - but they've stepped down.
In the most recent set of elections (2012), the Conservatives were 2nd to Labour (Labour won comfortably in all) in the *Tottenham* wards - with the LDs 4th.
So, the real question in these elections is, which candidate/party can best hold Labour to account? The LibDems didn't even try (see the above example of the last Full council meeting).
My advice - and I'm trying to impartial (tricky but possible) - is to look out for literature, challenge and question candidates (do so privately, not on here) and make your decision on the information you have. Be open minded. Don't dismiss any candidate or party. Let the battles begin.
Although I disagree with David wildly optimistic outlook, we ought to thank him, and all the other candidates, who have posted here. it's a pity there isn't a site like this for North Tottenham and Wood Green.
Best wishes.
Justin Hinchcliffe (Conservative/Seven Sisters)
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Justin's advice "and I'm trying to impartial (tricky but possible) - is to look out for literature, challenge and question candidates (do so privately, not on here)" is utter rubbish. If you speak with a candidate about something on the doorstep it is between you and them, they will tote up whether or not they need to pay attention to you according to how many other times they heard it. If you post it on here, as Michael has done, you get a far better response that we can ALL hold them to.
Advice for residents on the doorstep:
DO NOT tell them how you will vote.
DO tell them that you will vote.
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