On Saturday 6 May 2017, my local MP, David Lammy launched his re-election campaign with a guest appearance from Emily Thornberry, shadow foreign secretary.
Addressing the local Labour faithful, Thornberry set out the Labour party’s alternative to May’s hard Brexit. She also said that the country was crying out for a Labour government to create a fairer and more equal society.
As well as campaigning locally in Tottenham, Lammy appealed to local members to be generous and campaign for Labour candidates in marginal seats such as Rupa Haq in Ealing and Acton, Tulip Siddiq in Hampstead & Kilburn and Wes Streeting in Ilford North.
Lammy highlighted the importance of retaining marginal seats as the key to Labour’s success at the general election.
After the speeches and a photo session on Tottenham Green, I caught up with Lammy and asked him the main reasons why we should oust the Tories on 8 June.
Lammy said, “If you believe in state education, then you should certainly get rid of the Tories, because they are planning cuts to our schools where we had a 20-year concensus on extra funding in state schools.”
“I think if you are worried about the growing trend of nationalism and frankly about a mainstream party like the Conservative Party becoming a UKIP light party, then we also really want to see the back of them. We need better negotiators on our future with Europe.”
“I also believe that we do need those extra police officers, 20,000 of them.”
“And I am really concerned about what is happening with the NHS – if you are ending up in A&E or you have got a loved one and an elderly relative; the collapse in social care and queues we now have in our A&E services across the country.”
“For all those reasons, we need change; we need a better prospect, and I believe we need a fairer society and that means voting Labour.”
Cllr Khaled Moyeed 