Labour candidate suspended for 'transphobia'

[Imnobody4]

Labour’s London region has suspended the party’s candidate for a closely-contested council by-election in Hackney following allegations of “transphobia“.
Party members were told by email early this morning by Hackney’s borough organiser that “all planned campaign sessions” in the Cazenove ward had been cancelled, including those that were to have taken place today.
A Labour source has confirmed that the candidate, Laura Pascal (front right in photo), has been “administratively suspended”, which means a complaint has been made about her by another party member and a decision taken to investigate it.
The timing of the suspension means there is not enough time to nominate a different candidate in time for the by-election, which will be held next Thursday. This means that if Pascal wins, she will sit as an independent councillor. The source confirmed that Labour will do no further campaigning for her.

https://www.onlondon.co.uk/hackney-labour-cazenove-candidate-for-council-by-election-suspended/

About time KS got a grip.

Do you mean Labour people celebrating because she lost?

Is that due to her investigated views, I’m guessing so but seems an own goal

Indeed 🤦🤦🤦

I don't know much about this area but based on my local experience, LTNs are another thing that is often ideologically driven by people on the council.

In theory they're a good idea, but if you don't take into account local factors (in our case the fact there is a shit to nonexistent bus service, particularly for those travelling from outside the city in to work) and local demographics (a lot of workers in the city can't afford house prices in the city so have to live out and travel in to work) then they can really affect people's lives and air pollution in a very bad way.

In our case it's created a lovely situation for people living in the city centre in million pound + houses. It's like an oasis of calm now, no-one can park anymore, it's an oasis of rich people. No so much for all the people stuck on the ring road or waiting for a bus stuck in traffic. Nor for the ambulances that struggle to get through it all.

Very complex.
Are people suggesting that voters ousted the Labour candidate because of her 'views' or as a protest against the Labour Party who suspended her for those 'views'?
Nothing in the media yet.

https://www.onlondon.co.uk/hackney-conservative-triumphs-after-turbulent-cazenove-by-election-contest/

Do you mean Labour people celebrating because she lost?

Is that due to her investigated views, I’m guessing so but seems an own goal

Yes. They don't care.

Apparently the Tory winner is a former LibDem (and Labour in a 1994 election) and is very popular locally.

Yes the washout for the Lib Dems/landslide for the Cons suggests as pp said that he took a lot of his Lib Dem voters with him to the Cons.

Dd this same guy win it for Lib Dems?

I’m assuming it was previously Labour like many London councils

He may have done in the past but I think last time it was Labour.

That was what I meant. I won't speak for Eresh but I'm pretty sure she meant the same thing!

I had no idea until I joined the Labour party just how many members were far more focussed on fighting internal 'enemies' than they were on winning elections. Indeed some of them hated being the party of government during the Blair/Brown years. I've not been a party member for some time but it sounds like little has changed.

These were constituency level members - I've no idea what it might be like higher up the ranks, but I never, ever underestimate Labour's capacity for self harm.

In this area it means traffic has been shunted on to a few particular roads, which are consequently clogged, making buses and emergency vehicles much slower. It has been vociferously opposed for this reason. Plus we have many small local businesses, who are feeling the effects because they and their suppliers can't drive or park conveniently.

I do understand these concerns and I think there should be provisions for delivery vehicles. And yes, LTNs can just mean people living on 'nicer' roads in bigger houses get the benefits while other people take the brunt of rerouted traffic. But the bigger picture IMO is that there should just be less driving/fewer vehicles on the roads full stop. I basically think the inner zones of London should be car-free and have excellent and cheap public transport and safe, clean bike lanes. I don't know what local councils can do about that.

Members of Hackney Council have in the past said (not to me but to a friend who is v involved with Extinction Rebellion) that they know LTNs aren't popular but they believe the principle to be important. I have to agree, and I have to applaud them for standing up like that, even though it seems to have meant they've got themselves voted out. I don't know what the answer is as long as people remain wedded to driving for its own sake/won't accept the small inconveniences of using public transport (yes I am prepared to be handed my arse for saying that), and, perhaps more to the point, as long as government and politicians with political and/or financial interests in fossil fuels keep acting in their own interests.

Sorry for the sermon on the Mount.

We had a campaign nearby over LTNs I guess the next council election will show impact

I imagine the quieter streets might be different to those who did campaign

I hope this result, and the bizarre week before it, gives Keir the kick up the backside he needs to fix this issue before the election comes.

He cannot keep ignoring this issue.

At the Uxbridge by-election in July the Tories retained the seat despite losing two others on the same day outside London. Starmer blamed the ULEZ expansion entirely for the result and called on Khan to rethink.

Labour are very nervous about the effect of traffic measures on the GE in London. It looks like they should be

I line in London (but not Hackney) and my usual mode of transport is cycling. So not wedded to the car (we have one, I drive it a bit, my DH hardly at all). In my experience many schemes aimed at LTN’s and improving cycling just mean in practice long queues of static traffic belching toxic fumes as they wait and angry drivers -not good IMO including for cyclists, pedestrians and residents.

It seems that there were other local factors involved - so while the confusion probably didn't help it might not have made much difference.

Quite likely the number of people who voted for her "for" her views on this issue and those who didn't for the opposite reason cancelled each other out, and weren't that numerous anyway.

As I keep saying, we ought to be focussing on the best way to influence a likely Labour government and not kidding ourselves that the number of people whose vote can be influenced by this issue is going to be anywhere near large enough to influence a General Election outcome.

we ought to be focussing on the best way to influence a likely Labour government

Go for it. No one is stopping you. But your ‘we’ is people who want to and many know Labour isn’t listening

What are you doing?

You're welcome to keep saying that, HPFA. Unfortunately, as other posters keep pointing out, Starmer won't be seen in public with the Labour Women's Declaration and I'm pretty sure I've seen Rosie Duffield say that he never speaks to her either. Joan Smith - loyal to Labour for years - tweets about how he ignores letters/emails. So you will have to forgive those of us who've become sceptical about influencing from the inside.

I've lived on the outskirts of a city in Europe where I didn't own a car and it worked - basically cars not really allowed in the centre. And I was all for that because public transport was cheap, plentiful and on time - even when there was a snowstorm. They basically pumped public money in to the public transport and it wasn't privatised. I never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus, tram or train.

That's what you have to do BEFORE you introduce the LTN, otherwise you're just making life nicer for rich people and harder for poor / disabled people.

You'll find that if you make it easy and cheap for people not to have cars, they won't. The problem is in this country it's imposing more and more restrictions for poor people. My local bus is on a main road with no pavement getting there (so unsafe to get to) and only once an hour (and often not on time by 30+ minutes). That is incompatible with most jobs. More and more elderly people where I live are isolated and other people can't afford to work any more because the buses are incredibly unreliable and expensive.

Influencing Labour from the 'inside' is not going well.
Starmer continues to be unconvincing.

I actually don't think it's ok to shit on poor and disabled people for a principle. The divide between rich and poor has never been wider.

People aren't 'wedded to their cars' they have no other choice. I'd love to use public transport - but it takes literally 10x the amount of time of the car, and an unreliable 10x the amount of time. We went down to one vehicle and DH started getting the bus but it just wouldn't turn up - I can't count the number of times the bus simply hasn't turned up and I've had to taxi DH into work (so we've got another vehicle now).

And incidentally for those who are rich, they get to keep using their BMWs as can more than afford fines for breaching LTN zones and get resident parking near their million pound + houses in the centre. It's clearing the central area of poor people, and making the roads nice and clear for the rich.

I actually don't think it's ok to shit on poor and disabled people for a principle. The divide between rich and poor has never been wider.

I agree and Labour is going to have to deal with that sooner or later.

I don't disagree at all; that's basically what I'm trying to say.

There is already good public transport in the ward (although of course it is subject to pressure and some delays from other road vehicles; but banning or restricting other vehicles would obviously help with that). For those who are reasonably healthy/mobile, it's fine. Buses are pretty affordable; the Overground is a bit more but still cheaper than the tube. For those who do need the tube, both of these link the area to several tube stations.

There is a smallish but vocal group of people in the area who are open about wanting to drive just because they can and they feel they should be able to – they don't even bother to argue that it's because of being disabled/transporting infirm people around etc, or that they need to get to places on time. I don't know how cheap and easy public transport would have to be made before this group would countenance using it. I'd bet my bottom dollar a lot of people who voted Tory yesterday voted at least partly on this issue. So why should the Tories change their stance on it? That's what I mean by it not being in their political interests.

Anyway, this is a bit of a derail, so I apologise.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12983229/Labour-lose-council-election-tearing-apart-trans-row-Candidate-suffers-shock-loss-Tories-east-London-forced-apologise-social-media-posts-claimed-trans-women-not-female.html

Incidentally Elliot Hammer, the Tory quoted, is one of the brave lawyers who were willing to take on the early GC employment cases. He represented the Tavistock whistleblower Sonia Appleby and others. i

Dunno. I lived in Springfield ward , adjoining Cazenove. And I can remember the clamour for speed bumps after a child was killed in an accident. Come to think of it hardly anyone I knew had a car. That was part of the grievance , people using quiet residential streets as a rat run when traffic was stuck on busier roads.

I read somewhere that Haredi Jewish people don't like the 20mph limit on those streets. That surprised me tbh. I don't recall them as boy racers. They would trundle along in Volvo estates and mini buses. Still what do I know? The 253 was my taxi. Its true you could sometimes walk faster. And that was years before the LTN came in.

Labour are 27% ahead in the last Yougov poll. Are people really going to choose 5 more years of this shitshow so they can stage the Wacky Races in a densely populated city?

Nah. Labour blew themselves up. The Tories had a popular candidate. The Greens got a miniscule vote, ditto Libdems. No mad surge of radical haircuts propelling Micner into the council chamber. Steer Calmer doesn't have to worry about that lot. The cringebag.