Sunday, May 10, 2009

Labour Stall in Canning Town

Yesterday morning we set up a Party stall in Rathbone Market which is in Canning Town, E16. As we were setting up we had a short “ding dong” with a BNP supporter who thought that the repeated use of the “F” word at high volume constituted a coherent political argument about immigration.

It was actually a useful reality check to remind everyone about the BNP. Especially now that their activists are encouraged to wear suits, grow their hair and try to pretend not to be racist Nazi’s.

I thought that it was a shame that the “Hope Not Hate” leaflets and posters have not arrived yet. We will have them for the next stall.

I was actually expecting to get a bit of stick from people about the MPs allowances and expenses. People did come up to you and say “what about expenses” and “what are you going to do about it” but I didn’t pick up any significant anger about the issue although there was an clear expectation that something must be done. Lyn Brown, the West Ham MP came down to help on the stall (confusingly she is not yet the local MP since Canning Town will not form part of her constituency until boundary changes take place next year). I thought she handled this issue very well although most people wanted to discuss individual case work with her rather than national events.

There were also a large number of local people who know Lyn and her family personally. Lyn is Newham born and bred. Her Mum and Dad are also respected local community activists. There are not that many MP’s I think nowadays who could hold street stalls in their constituency and bump into people they went to school with or who knew their sister or went to a club run by the MPs parents.

We had more activists than we needed on the stall so we sent members away to canvass surrounding blocks. At the same time there was another Newham Labour street canvass talking place in Canning Town South ward with about 20 members taking part.

Unlike last week’s stall at Stratford where people seemed to want to talk about national issues. Yesterday we picked up a lot of case work relating to local issues. Canning Town does have a number of serious economic and social problems. There is an ambitious redevelopment plan has just been agreed for the Market (see here) which should help transform the area.

There was another street canvass this morning (I was skiving) and all last week we held telecanvass sessions at the Party rooms in Stratford. A West Ham CLP Facebook Group has been set up by Young Labour activists.

In all I thought the stall went very well. Local residents seemed genuinely pleased that we were there talking to people and standing proud for what we believe in. We will be back.

There was a record 5 local Party members whose first name was “John” at the stall. One of whom disgraced our true Labour movement credentials in the local Market cafe by insisting that I ask for “Peppermint Tea” for him when it was my turn to go for the “Teas and coffees”. Needless to say they only had proper British tea which was hot, strong and refreshing (and of course Indian).

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