When Mark Reckless announced his defection in September the magnitude of his decision dawned on me straight away. I was in the centre of a huge political fight. A battle in a wider war for the kind of country we live in.
I cannot thank enough those comrades who dropped everything to help. My neighbouring candidates, Tristan Osborne and Paul Clark, put their campaigns on hold to get stuck in. Our Labour group leader Vince Maple downed tools and immediately picked up leaflet rounds and clipboards. Chris Bryant rode to Rochester and Strood on what seemed like a white horse and was closely followed by most of the parliamentary party. The unions, party affiliates, Progress, Steve Reed and Morgan McSweeney’s London activists’ bus, Gloria De Piero and Jonathan Ashworth’s ‘Express’, Luke Akehurst and the ‘three seats challenge’ all rallied round. The Labour movement realised that defeating our political enemies in the United Kingdom Independence party was more important than any internal party interest.
During what was an unprecedented experience for me two ideas kept me going. It was not about me, or even this one seat, but symbolic of Labour fighting for the south-east. We needed to show we cared about and still understood a set of voters: my friends and neighbours. Second, someone needed to draw a line in the sand. Immigration is good for this country. And, as the child of immigrants, I was bought up in a tolerant and welcoming Britain; that is a Britain worth fighting for.
It will not be news to Progress readers that if you draw a line from the Wash to the Severn Labour has just 10 seats outside London. We must make considerable ground in the south-east for Ed Miliband to replace David Cameron as prime minister. Some are easier than others but Kent has representatives of all those much-needed voters. We held seven seats in the garden of England before 2010 and held Gravesham from 1997-2005. This is Labour territory. Voters here need to hear a message of security – that what they have will not slip away; that they will be able to pay their mortgage, have good schools for their kids, and an NHS they can rely on. The opposite side of the same coin is aspiration: how their children will get an apprenticeship or afford university, how they get a better-skilled, better-paid job, or how they start a small business and become their own boss.
I have had more conversations about immigration in the last few weeks than many would believe. I get the problems – the sense of someone else getting the fruits of our labour, and the sense that perhaps the certainty of yesterday is better than the prospect of tomorrow. The Tories and Ukip spent the by-election fighting over a lie, that we can shut ourselves off from the world and solve our own problems. This is not right. Immigration comes with its drawbacks but is good for Britain. This is something I was proud to say during the campaign. Labour has policies to deal with the rough edges. We can put these in place without stopping immigration, not least because the voters know that the flipside is access to great opportunities and future prosperity.
So the result on 20 November was a kicking for the political class. It is Labour that must hear that message most.
I would also say that for politics to be open to all beyond the political class we must look at our support for candidates. Those who stand do so at great personal loss (with the hope of great gain, I know), but for many that cost is a barrier that means some do not even enter the race. I cannot think how I might have done this had I not had such an understanding employer, or if I had caring responsibility for children or older relatives. The literal costs and the loss of income can be too much for so many. I do not say this for me but to ask us to consider those in the 106-target list entering the last six months of the campaign. They need our help to continue what we started in Rochester and Strood and get Labour over the finish line.
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Naushabah Khan is parliamentary candidate for Rochester and Strood
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Well said, Naushabah. Thank you for your dedication to Labour and the people of Rochester and Strood.
I think I get the message: ignore the punters. That sounds like Labour, all right. How could adding 260,000 to the population of Europe’s most crowded major country every year cause any serious problems? Besides, apparently there are no guarantees that we can produce enough electricity for the present population:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24560196
Answer? – Yes, more people!
Well said Naushabah
As an immigrant ( a frightening 40 years ago almost to the day) I have never claimed a penny in benefits, have created some 200 jobs and paid million in taxes. I never received any hostility – if you leave out the odd Irish joke – I still tell the best ones – and it would be an awful shame if this changed. Diversity is what makes the UK strong.
Thank you for your kind words about us as your employer. We too believe in diversity and – at Curtin&Co – have consultants with varying political beliefs and we would offer them the saw opportunity to run for office.
Finally, please don’t let them send me back.
Well done again to you and colleagues on a great campaign.
Well said and you are a credit to the community just like my family was when they arrived from Ireland in the 1930s. Don’t confuse us with Somali and Eritrean asylum seekers or Romanian gypsies some 600 000 of the latter having arrived and are living, mostly rough, in Andalucia where I have a property and business.
They have depressed wages down to the levels were it is almost impossible to feed a family on what is earned. No one is going to send you back and to claim that anyone can is not even funny.