Full LibDem Slate for Tower Hamlets

Tower Hamlets Liberal Democrats are running a full slate of borough council candidates for the election on 3rd May, for the first time since 2010 (when I was the parliamentary candidate for the constituency of Poplar & Limehouse). Elaine Bagshaw is our Mayoral candidate. This time I’m standing for Council in my home ward of Mile End, along with Richard Macmillan and Tabitha Potts. As in much of the country, the local party was hit badly by the fallout from the 2010-2015 Coalition government with the Conservatives (despite the fact that several positive LibDem policies were introduced during that time, including the pupil premium, a substantial rise in the personal tax allowance and same sex marriage). However, in common with most other London borough local parties, Tower Hamlets LibDems have experienced a great surge in members (now well over 700) and keen young activists. Many of these have been motivated by the shock of the 2016 EU Referendum result (for which London as a whole did not vote Leave, Tower Hamlets markedly so) and the linked fact that under the leadership of Vince Cable the LibDems have firmly established themselves as the party of ExitFromBrexit, in sharp contrast to Theresa May’s Conservatives and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour. That is a message that is going down well on the doorstep, not least among the thousands of (non-UK) EU citizens — many of them married to or living with Brits — who are alarmed by the threats to their situation post March 2019. Of course, EU citizens can vote in local elections (but not in national ones, unless they are from Ireland, Cyprus or Malta) and their participation in this May’s vote could have a decisive effect on the outcome. Both for them, and for UK and Commonwealth citizens resident in Britain who are not yet on the electoral register, do please register by the deadline of 17 April. It’s a quick and easy process to do online through the government website:

https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIodGxhKKj2gIVir_tCh3SDAO1EAAYASAAEgLmV_D_BwE

Stairway to Heaven

The Bethnal Green tube station disaster of 3 March 1943, in which 173 people were crushed to death as they rushed down the stairs into the air-raid shelter that was housed below, was largely hushed up at the time, so as not to give propaganda material to the Germans. And even when I moved to Tower Hamlets in 1985, no-one talked about it. It was as if there was a collective reluctance to face up to the fact that there had been such catastrophic loss of human life for no reason other than human error; someone tripped on the stairs and the rest piled up on top of them. Some people did escape; indeed, one gentleman, Alf Morris, who was a young lad at the time, shared testimony today at a remembrance service at St John’s on Bethnal Green, recounting how a woman air-raid warden pulled him out by his hair. This weekend saw the 69th anniversary of the tragedy, which might not seem a particularly important date that would bring out people in their hundreds, despite bitter cold and heavy rain. But this year is special, as the long-mooted memorial to the dead — Stairway to Heaven — has now been started, on a site right by the fateful tube station entrance, just opposite the church. Enough funds have been raised by the Stairway to Heaven Memorial Trust to finance Phase 1, which includes the base and the plynth, on which all 173 names of the dead will be inscribed, from 14-year-old Betty Aarons to 13-month old John Yewman. When more money comes in, the Trust will be able to give the green light to the inverted staircase that will form the upper part of the monument, as seen in the artist’s impression. It was good to see a number of Tower Hamlets Liberal Democrats at the service this afternoon, including Bethnal Green North Councillor Stephanie Eaton and City and London East GLA candidate Richard Macmillan (see photo). Representatives of other political parties were there too, of course, as well as the ceremonial mayor (Speaker) of Tower Hamlets, Councillor Mizanur Rahman Chaudhury. And although the service was predominantly Christocentric, Leon Silver, President of the East London Central Synagogue, gave one of the addresses.

Link: www.stairwaytoheavenmemorialtrust.org