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.

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?

This article is interesting in relation to what difference the new boundaries will make to the next election. The swing Labour now need is massive.

I think that although to those of us on FWR we might want to think the trans issue (solved by making their candidate humiliate herself) probably made very little difference to voters.

Hackney Council is seen as high handed and undemocratic. The LTN's were bought in areas under Covid emergency rules (ie not relevant to Covid at all) and after the plans had already been defeated in local consultations.

The LTNs aren't opposed by luddites but mainly by working people who would be unable to drop their children off at school, get to work, do unpaid caring for relatives, shopping etc., without a car ie primarily women in low paid work with antisocial hours. Let alone those with disabilities.

LTNs are any empty gesture to placate the posturing middle class because it doesn't stop the total traffic in London. It just means those with less social standing get more fumes, and bus routes (a number have been cut) slower.

Added to which, again despite the dilettante saying it is a top priority, the antisocial cycling routes and schemes have made life for pedestrians a night mare. And that includes local parks.

Additionally, despite newspapers making it all about the Police in fact Hackney has control over local schools and so was part of covering up what happened to the young woman stripped search ie it was the school who invited the police in and a member of staff in locus parentis who okayed the strip search.

So for 2 years parents were sending their daughters to a school which had failed to protect a young woman, inform the parents and instead call in the police. And then keep it secret.

The former Mayor did as he always did, ie hold some farcical on the Town Hall steps rally dominated by speakers from the SWP (remember Comrade Hilton) and Sister Space (you scratch my back I'll scratch yours). Many women from BME communities as both mothers and teachers came from other boroughs because they thought it would be an opportunity to look at entrenched racism in schools. Dut it ended up with Black Women on the platform being heckled by Black Women in the crowd.

Then there is the sordid cover up by the former Mayor of one of his Councillor's being accused and convicted of child pornography. And look how long it took him to resign.

Plus the seizing of land formerly used for social housing and sheltered accommodation that has been given to private companies, on the basis of a % being social housing (ie none) and the appalling standard of housing care for those still in council run housing (2nd only to Tower Hamlets).

And the increasing split between those who have a financial secure way of life colonising the area and the expense of the existing community.

But despite all this, voting is very stuck in a time warp, ie traditional Labour BME and working class communities being Labour, now added to by woke incomers, and then a few from other parties.

There were, prior to this election, only 5 Tory councillors, all of whom are members of the Jewish community.

List of councillors prior to yesterday's vote https://hackney.gov.uk/your-councillors

So despite what I have said, and anger at the existing Hackney constituents being sacrificed to rich, woke incomers, traditional voting patterns dont really chance.

About the only thing people in Hackney agree on about the Council is that its level of incompetence is staggering, not least its computer system being hacked, and the majoring think nothing will change.

Yes he was Labour first then LibDem and is actually a nice bloke. I used to know him when I lived in Hackney.
I suspect he is more of a community than Party politician, he is a well known figure in the ultra orthodox population.

I do have sympathy for Laura. She'll struggle to contribute to Labour moving forwards and that's a shame as she had some experience to offer.

The poster below was right when they said some labour members would rather lose than have the "wrong type" of their own elected.

I'm pondering how much canvassing Labour had done and whether they knew they'd lose and were looking for a scapegoat?
My local experience was that you'd have a good side before election day which seats you'd win or run close.

This is probably a better indication of party split across the borough. The results of the recent Mayoral election:

The election turnout was 20.69% of the 180,205 electorate.

A total of 37,289 ballot papers were cast of which 15,731 were postal votes.

The full election results are:
Simon De Deney (Liberal Democrats) - Votes: 1,879
Zoe Garbett (Greens) - Votes: 9,075
Peter Smorthit (Independent) - Votes: 1,382
Simche Steinberger (Conservative) - Votes: 5,039
Annoesjka Valent (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition) - Votes: 1,265
Caroline Woodley (Labour) - Votes: 18,474

ie
5% Lib Dems
24% Greens
4% Ind
14% Conservative
3% TUSC
50% Labour

I'm pondering how much canvassing Labour had done and whether they knew they'd lose and were looking for a scapegoat?
My local experience was that you'd have a good side before election day which seats you'd win or run close.

I doubt they would have deliberately wanted to piss off all the whiny misogynistic students nationwide by causing this kerfuffle.

Isn't it about motivation and turnout.?

Those who don't want 20 mile an hour zones care strongly and will go out and vote. Those, like me, who only drive if there is no public transport option, can't get worked about the issue and...well ...no point going out into the cold.

Labour shenanigans won't have helped. Some, possibly the more active radical types, won't have wanted to vote for a "phobe". Others may have been sick of Labour games.

@IwantToRetire I used to live nearby and I think a lot of what you say is right. When the council published the evaluations of the LTNs it was staggering how much journey times had gone up on some key roads (eg Northwood Rd). Buses are basically unusable on several routes as they take so long. Pretty much everyone in Hackney who can cycle easily does already and the council isn't doing enough to reach those who, for example, have nowhere to store a bike. And the Met do sod all about bike theft (I had three bikes stolen in the decade I lived there).

LTNs have become shorthand for a high handed council which rarely bothers to consult residents properly about anything, covers up scandals constantly, panders to certain community groups while ignoring others. Though the bin collections were very reliable.

LTNs have become shorthand for a high handed council which rarely bothers to consult residents properly about anything, covers up scandals constantly, panders to certain community groups while ignoring others.

Just to add that the cycling campaign has impacted negatively on those who have no choice but to either walk or go by bus, and if you are disabled or a bit unsure of yourself because of age that are not just intimidating but dangerous.

At the last local forum meeting I went to everybody complained. Particularly the danger they pose. The speed, the lack of lights, on pavement speeding through red lights, and on attempt what so ever to impose fines, or have local police to a campaign.

And the worst insult is to bus drivers who have to spend their whole time avoiding the smug muppets who are basically slow road hogs. I am amazed that whichever union, assuming there is one, that represents bus drivers hasn't made more complaints. And heavens knows the increase in their fuel consumption. Just so that the spoilt cyclists can go through the City, many bus routes have been diverted down narrow side roads, so endless holds ups and more time spent waiting at lights to get back on the main road. Unfoturnately cyclists campaign in a way that is very similar to TRAs.

It is the stupidest campaign ever. Another one of those pandering to young people who have little responsibilities. As in the example of women who are in low paid jobs, how would becoming a cyclist help them. The brain child of reactionary incels, and brain dead white middle class men who never grow up like Jeremy Vine.

I have got to the point where I know think that politicians should be voted on on the basis on competence and financial management, not ideology.

As someone said up thread, 99.9% of the time the ideology can only be implemented by restricting and further punishing those at the bottom of the social ladder.

Strange how similar Labour politicians are to the old time Lord of the Manor who thought they were so superior to everyone that they could decree how others should live their lives on the meagre scraps they are given.

I posted a thread recently on a article on how female cyclists are habitually threatened and even sexually assaulted when cycling in London.

Absolutely this.

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

You can keep saying that all you like. Starmer is NOT LISTENING.

They probably know already hence posting here rather than doing much about it themselves

It’s just a way to say to women who care you didn’t do enough rather than mention fault of precious Labour and Starmer - who clearly dgaf

So , all things considered , it does not seem to be a case of Labour losing because their candidate believes in biology. Otherwise the Greens would have won or at least come second.

There were a lot of factors involved. Not sure how it can be mapped onto a GE. Perhaps Starmer will commit to a huge road widening scheme and expel Khan. Most likely he'll just do nowt and wait for the lingering death of the Tories though.

Public transport is never particularly easy when you have young children who need to be dropped off at a school or nursery before you then make your way to your job; often in a different part of town and where you have an early deadline to be there.

I don't live in London ( Hackney) but I don't think it can be too different to my neighbourhood. What of the teachers, nurses, doctors who work at schools and hospitals in boroughs on the other side of the city; or maybe working unsocial shifts. Not everyone can work from home, and the nature of contemporray life often involves significant or awkward commutes; plus family responsibilities in different parts of the city, or even region.

I've had this same type of discussion on a city forum I contribute to, and I find it is often youngish men ( in their 30's) without children who are most evangelical and anti -car, and about the lazy selfish people who use them to make their life functional.

“I find it is often youngish men ( in their 30's) without children who are most evangelical”

Yes, it’s definitely men who are most evangelical and judgmental about active travel. Although it’s not restricted to in their 30s ime. They simply don’t appreciate that infrastructure and transport systems, and active travel provision, are all designed around what men’s daily and working lives are like. They also don’t have a clue about the aggression and hostility that women are all too often up against navigating public space.

I’m a non-driving lone parent who
lived in the neighbouring Hackney constituency for years (Hackney South and Shoreditch) and I was a young adult resident of Islington prior to that (I actually only moved a few streets within the Du Beauvoir area but over the borough boundary) I lived on old Peabody style council estate that has since been demolished.

My personal experience of life in Hackney is over a decade out of date but I still follow some local news stuff because I have a fondness for the area, even though it’s changed a lot since my time.

I agree with pretty much everything @IwantToRetire says re: being a low income resident of an area that has a massive disparity between rich and poor (one of the reasons I left Hackney/London completely). I’m an everyday cyclist. shopper bike with basket (and baby seat through my children’s infancy) and you really do need strong disposition to manage being a female cyclist in London - one of my housemates in my old Islington short term occupancy housing association place worked behind the bar in various rock clubs in the west end and cycling home after her shift was dragged off her bike at traffic lights and stabbed in the upper back just so the thief could make off with her (shit) bike (as an aside I was woken up at 5am by the coppers who had attended her 999 call to offer me and her toothbrush a lift to UCH. I hope there are still police out there like that).

Worth noting that this pocket of East/North London has a recent history of voting for people who change party/go against their party line - in my era the neighbouring constituency on the other side had a Respect MP and of course, Ken Livingston initially won London Mayor as an independent after the Labour Party refused to have him as an official candidate - not defending KL’s behaviour here, just pointing out that personality can win out against party allegiance in London (whereas now I live in one of those MCR areas where anything with a red rosette pinned on it will win, possibly even an inanimate object).

Throw in everything that’s happened re: Corbyn and Diane Abbott and I’m not surprised that a ward with a significant Hasidic Jewish population can mobilise around a preferred candidate in a by election (Council by elections in winter have notoriously poor turn out, 30% actually seems quite high).

That Labour selected and then reinstated a candidate who openly posted terfy views is definitely a positive, but in a lot of places with long-term Labour councils people are not at all enthusiastic about voting for a Labour, even if we hate the Tories.

See everything that’s happening re: Sadiq Khan - even if we get a Labour government we probably won’t have a Labour London much longer.

Interesting to see that any potential losses to the Labour vote did not become a gain for Greens or LibDems, which surely indicates that ward is a sick of left-wing policy/governance (and the alleged/actual anti semitism shown by the major figures in the Labour Party in that area)?

My hazy memories of pregnancy/having a baby in Hackney all seem to involve a backdrop of bin strikes! Perhaps I was particularly sensitive to the smell of rotting garbage when pregnant? It’s seared into my memory!

Article from 2000: https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2000/nov/13/lifeandhealth.foodanddrink

Bit of a tangent but 6 Hackney primary schools are earmarked for closure/merging this year:

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/education/hackney-school-closing-randal-cremer-primary-education-b1126958.html

There are multiple reasons including the drop of the birth rate (there was a bulge in the birth rate for a few years around 2010 and those children are now moving through to secondary schools) but ultimately those factors add up to Hackney not being a viable place to live for young families on average incomes, leaving only the super wealthy and very low income families in social housing (and the posh people don’t want to use the same schools that the council estate kids go to).

(I looked at Randall Kremer back in 2004 ish and it was a lovely school, so popular it wasn’t viable to apply from my address. I eventually decided to skip reception for my summer born and sit on waitlists for entry into year 1, which worked out well as my boy eventually went to Gayhurst opposite the Lido. Seems bonkers to me that so many local schools are now undersubscribed because it was an absolute bunfight to get a school place in the mid naughties, another reason I left London before my eldest reaches secondary age).

Here’s the info re: other schools closing/merging:

https://education.hackney.gov.uk/content/school-closures-mergers

Colverstone parents are particularly furious:

https://theguardian.com/education/2023/dec/16/closure-of-primary-school-in-hackney-highlights-struggle-of-london-families

LTNs have become shorthand for a high handed council which rarely bothers to consult residents properly about anything, covers up scandals constantly, panders to certain community groups while ignoring others.

This

The mindset that imposes LTNs against all evidence (our council imposed them after a trial which showed it worsened air pollution in the poorest areas) is the same as the one that says twaw because I say so.

Totalitarian, undemocratic.

People are sick of it

And as someone who is not registered disabled but also who has a range of multiple medical conditions which means I couldn't possibly cycle 20miles every day (and that's before worrying about the 2 cyclists already killed on my route into the city this year, who knows how many injured as there's not actually space to cycle) there's a massive group of people in this country that are essentially partially disabled but unlikely to get a blue badge.

Hilariously ironic that the same councils imposing this shit on the chronically ill / infirm / carers probably piss away quite a lot of taxpayers money on dei training whilst excluding the truly marginalized.

This is an article in today's Telegraph by Camilla Tominey. It's behind a paywall but may have been archived:

Has this shock Tory victory exposed the costs of Labour’s trans extremism? (telegraph.co.uk)

Here's an archive link to the Telegraph article https://archive.ph/nX2Ap which I think is just wishful thinking by a Tory paper (you would have thought they would have focused on that win).

But as said up thread, the win was much more to do with who is known locally. And the actual winner seems to have now won once as Labour, once as Lib Dem and now Tory!

I think the school closures are because of the drop in the number of children. And that is a direct result of Hackney council marketing the borough as some sort of East Soho. ie lots of temporary residents, young people wanting to be part of the "vibe" and as with other tourist areas many flat are now Air b'n'bs. As an aside this is why the census where it records basic facts, number of residents, ages, etc., is or should be useful for council planning). You would like to think they could mothball the underused space because as with all cycles (not the angry woke mob type) sooner or later there will be a need for more places. But no doubt they will be converted to "loft" accommodation at stupid prices. (As another aside cyclists have made walking by the canal nearly impossible. What used to be pleasant sometimes countryside feel walk is no a dice with death by drowning as you get swept into the water by an arrogant peddler.)

re female cyclists. I am really afraid that this has been happening since the 80s (if not earlier). I can remember in one work place a colleague came in literally shaking. She had been chased by men in a car who through liquid over her. Luckily it turned out to be only water. As to the violence, Hackney has always had a bad reputation (eg murder mile) but (and not saying its justified) but any "flaunting" of items big or small that have a black market value mean you are fair game. Not just a way of life, but an "up yours" response to living on the breadline and seeing people pay more for a loaf of bread than you have to feed yourself for the whole week.

Lovely post. I also retain a great affection for Hackney and it is sad to see the place being hollowed out by gentrification. Of course the council was always a byword for em , somewhat opaque practices. But then it's a bit of a rotten Borough. If / when Labour wins the GE there will likely be a swing against them in the next locals.

I think corrupt , incompetent one party boroughs are another side effect of FPTP. No doubt the Blue Wall areas suffer from the same defect. Here's a thought : why not give PR a trial in local elections so people can see how it works. Proper PR. STV not some opaque party list system. A Women's Rights Party could do well ; they'd be 'transfer friendly '.