(but only with a united Labour party behind him)
It is vital that we elect a Labour mayor of London and Labour London Assembly next year to help alleviate the suffering that is being caused across London by a radical Tory government. Only with a united Labour party will we prevail in what is certain to be a tough election fight. As Labour’s London Assembly candidate for West Central (which includes Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham) I feel compelled to respond to a recent article for Progress by Dan Hodges entitled ‘Can Ken win?’ Mr Hodges predicts that Ken will lose the election for Mayor of London next May. He argues that ‘Livingstone is not really a fighter’ and adds ‘That Livingstone will lose is inevitable.’ I would have thought that Mr Hodges would have learned his lesson about making predictions, as he wrote an article entitled ‘David Miliband has won’ a few days before the result of last year’s Labour Leadership contest was announced.
Mr Hodges goes well beyond constructive criticism. Writing an article that talks down Labour’s candidate for mayor and says definitively that he will lose is harmful to all Labour candidates in London. The choice of our candidate was settled last year when Ken Livingstone was duly selected. I say this as someone who endorsed Oona King in the selection process. That contest is ancient history, and it is long past the time for us to unite as a party behind Ken Livingstone.
Next year’s elections are far too important for us to indulge in internal bickering about settled issues. People across London need a Labour mayor to fight Tory policies that are causing profound suffering. In my GLA constituency of West Central, the Conservatives are turning the area into a ‘no go’ zone for everyone but the wealthy. These changes aren’t abstract, they have started, and thousands of local families have received letters telling them that they will soon be forced to move far away from their home areas due to savage cuts in housing benefit. West Central residents need a Labour mayor of London to counterbalance the Tory-led government and Tory councils, including perhaps the most vicious council in the country in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.
It is also critical to get a Labour mayor of London to take the wind out of the Tories’ sails. If Johnson is re-elected the Tories will receive a major boost, and Labour’s task of winning the next general election will be more difficult. And we must keep up momentum locally in order to elect more LabourcCouncillors in the elections that will take place in all London boroughs in 2014.
I am proud to be standing with Ken Livingstone because he has the policies and the experience that London needs. As someone who is campaigning alongside him, I can you tell you that he is very much a fighter, and I have every confidence that he can win. Constructive suggestions about the campaign are very welcome, but there is no time for outright infighting that only plays into the Tories’ hands. We must throw ourselves into what is certain to be a tough fight that Labour cannot afford to lose.
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Todd Foreman is Labour’s candidate for the West Central GLA constituency and a councillor in Kensington and Chelsea.
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