1st Labour Landslide Victory of 2009

I am just back from a great meeting at the House of Commons of young Newham people from West and East Ham. They had been invited by local MPs Lyn Brown and Stephen Timms.

New electors whose date of birth was on the Newham electoral register were invited. The meeting was about participation in the electoral process and about 120 turned up.

Newham Young Labour provided volunteers to help out and ran a mock election with a ballot box and voting papers. There were stalls on the work of the House of Commons; what major political issues are important to young people and how the political process works.

UNISON sponsored the cost of snacks and soft drinks. The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown sent his apologies with a message of support and best wishes. The event was also well supported by many Parliamentary guest speakers who turned up to address the gathering – John Denham MP, Yvette Cooper MP, Andy Burnham MP, Iain Wright MP, Dawn Primarolo MP, Sion Simon MP and Mike Grapes MP. Also in attendance was Deputy Leader of the Commons, Chris Bryant, and Lord Young (former deputy GS of the CWU).

All of them did address the audience about the problems over expenses and allowances but I think still successfully encouraged everyone to still get involved in politics because politics really matters. Politics is about health services, about jobs, about education and about life chances. Many mentioned that they first got involved in politics as young people themselves because they wanted to “change the world” and how they still want change it.

UNISON Regional Convenor Gloria Hanson (and Newham resident) spoke about the importance of trade unions in the democratic civic process and about her own experiences growing up in Newham. How she is also a mother whose own children were educated in Newham who have now gone on to gain first class honours degrees and how she is also proud to be the first black female regional convenor in UNISON.

Group tours were arranged around the House of Commons.

Afterwards the volunteers were invited by Lyn and Stephen to Strangers Bar for a sherbet.

I was pleased that Housing Minister Iain Wright accepted my invitation to address Labour Link members of UNISON Housing Association Branch on Public Housing in the near future (subject to diary commitments).

I went to a similar event organised by Barking MP Margret Hodge. UNISON NEC member and Barking CLP Louise Couling helped out in both. Many thanks also to Lyn and Stephens Parliamentary staff for all the hard graft in organising the event.

LABOUR LANDSLIDE – as they came into the room the young voters were given a ballot paper to complete secretly and place in ballot box. Of those who voted the result was an absolute landslide for Labour. Labour 48; Tories 6; Lib Dem 5; Green 2; Respect 5; Spoilt 2.