Karen Jennings

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ken Livingstone at the Labour Street Stall in Crouch End

Despite the rain, the Hornsey and Wood Green Labour team have been out delivering my latest direct mail letter.¬† This time it is a letter from Ken Livingstone asking voters to think very carefully before voting on Thursday and urges them to vote labour.¬† It is a powerful message.¬†¬† Take a look…..

I’ve been out campaigning in Hornsey and Wood Green for Karen Jennings, your Labour parliamentary candidate over the last couple of weeks. I chose to come here for two reasons.

Firstly, because I think Karen is a great candidate after my own heart – a strong, independent minded, Labour voice, with a background in the trade unions and the NHS; someone who I’ve campaigned with and marched alongside – real Labour.

Secondly, because I know this constituency, especially this ward, has a big progressive anti-Tory majority. Voters here turned out overwhelmingly to defeat the Tories in 1997. And in the 2008 Mayoral elections here in Hornsey and Wood Green you gave me one of my strongest first preference votes – 17,157 as against only 4,932 for the Lib Dems – and I thank you for that.

Voters in this part of London have been shown to be right, with bus fares up, police numbers being cut and tube ticket office opening hours under threat from a Conservative mayor. This is what we can expect from a Cameron-Osborne government – the economic recovery put at risk with frontline services cut.

Now I want to ask you to think really hard about your vote this time, and its effect.

Many progressive minded people agree that Labour has made a big difference –

• NHS spending massively up, hospitals built , waiting lists dramatically down;
• Education spending up, schools rebuilt, free nursery places for 3 year olds, Sure Start children centres opened, results dramatically improved;
• Working family tax credit, minimum wage, maternity and paternity rights;
• Constitutional reform ‚Äì Scottish and Welsh parliament, devolution for London, scrapped section 28 and introduced Civil Partnerships.

And most recently, Labour was right to take action to save the economy, which has prevented recession turning into depression, and stopped mass unemployment. The Tories opposed it then and want big cuts now when the recovery is fragile – while the Lib Dems proposed “Savage Cuts”.

I know many of you, like Karen and I, were angry about the war, have not always agreed with everything a Labour government does, or feel frustrated by lack of progress on other matters, but I believe we cannot put at risk all the gains that have been made. Many people locally voted for me two years ago – perhaps in part because you were rightly horrified at the thought of a Tory Mayor, in part because you valued my independence, and also maybe Labour’s London vision was more closely aligned with your values.

Now your choice in this election is crucial. Your vote really counts just as it did in the Mayoral election.

As recent press coverage shows the Liberal Democrats may well put the Tories into power. A hung parliament is looking a possibility. Clegg has made it clear that the Lib Dems will look for a coalition with the biggest Party, and he has almost ruled out a coalition with Gordon Brown. And we know that the Libdems in local government have formed coalitions with the Tories all over the country including in nearby Camden – usually followed by big cuts to public services.

If, like me, you want to avoid the election of a Tory government, or a Tory led coalition you need to vote Labour in this constituency. Even if you are tempted by a Lib Dem/ Labour coalition, your vote can best achieve it by voting Labour.

Please think hard. Waking up to David Cameron on May 7^th is a nightmare that can be avoided – the best option for voters in Hornsey and Wood Green to keep the Tories out  is to vote for Karen Jennings, Labour, and stand up for the values so important to people in this community.

Yours sincerely,

Ken Livingstone

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Ken Livingstone campaigning in Hornsey and Wood Green says vote for Karen Jennings and “I hope to see you next week!”

Ken Livingstone campaigning with Karen Jennings and local supporter Stuart Barnes

In a rare appearance on the election campaign trail, Ken Livingstone spent hours on Saturday afternoon in Hornsey and Wood Green urging the community to vote for Labour Parliamentary Candidate Karen Jennings. Visiting Labour street stalls in Muswell Hill, Crouch End and Stroud Green – Ken’s presence drew crowds of people and supporters.¬† He said,
‘The people of Hornsey and Wood Green have an outstanding Labour Candidate in Karen Jennings; she is independently-minded, a staunch campaigner and has a life long record of public service.¬† I don’t have to be on the campaign trail on a sunny Saturday afternoon – but I came because I want the people of Hornsey and Wood Green to vote for Karen.¬† We had a fantastic response and I will be back on the campaign trail with Karen next Saturday ‚Äì I hope to see you next week!’

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What a week indeed, barely recovered from the joy of my grand-daughter‚Äôs arrival and straight into a week of relentless canvassing, visits, meetings, hustings – I’ve loved it.¬†¬† Monday morning – and every morning this week – we were back at tube and train stations – with ever more people asking for Labour posters, pledging their votes and generally keeping the Labour team’s energy high!¬†¬† Monday evening saw John Prescott back in Hornsey and Wood Green for the second time, only this time with David Miliband as well for a major event with the Cypriot Community at the Cypriot Community Centre in Woodside; huge groundswell of Labour support.¬†

Karen Jennings answering pensioners' questions with other candidates

Throughout Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I have spoken at hustings arranged by the Muswell Hill & Highgate Pensioners Action Group and the African Caribbean Leadership Council, visited a range of local brilliant projects including Bowes Park Community Garden , a community gardening project run by local volunteers of the Bowes Park Community Assocation, who are about to open their local community centre.
 
Oh, and we’ve written out to over 6,000 pensioners – reminding them of what Labour has done to provide dignity and security in old age.¬† The Labour Party office in Middle Lane is a hive of activity and industry – please do come and join us if you want to support the Labour team, we’ve got plenty of work to go around.
 

Karen campaigning with Ken Livingstone

The icing on the cake was then a full day of canvassing with Ken Livingstone on Saturday – visiting Labour stalls in Crouch End, Muswell Hill¬†and Stroud Green, where we¬†took part in the Stroud Green Neighbourhood Day. It was extraordinary to see so many people cross the street to meet him and shake his hand – we found ourselves in quite a public scrum as we tried to move around! Ken stayed with us for four hours visiting many Stroud Green residents¬†in their homes and gardens.¬† It was very humbling to have give such fulsome backing to my candidacy and promise to come back next Saturday to do more…..

Blog and tweeting activity will resume as normal this week, in the contest this week between the blog, my grand-daughter and campaign activity – the blog lost out!

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Since the Tories took over the position of Mayor of London they have increased bus fares by a whopping one third.  The single oyster card bus fare has gone up from 90p under Labour ‘s Mayor to £1.20p under Boris Johnson.  Bus passes have risen by the same proportion. There’s more to come.

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Karen Jennings is supporting Haringey’s investment of £212 million to improve local schools in this government funded programme.

Karen visited Heartlands High School, which is being built in Wood Green, and saw the scale of the construction project at first hand. Karen said “This initiative is making a critical difference to local children’s education, raising their aspirations and improving their prospects. This is only possible as a result of the Labour government’s investment in our children’s future.”

Heartlands is a £33m project that will provide flexible spaces for a wide range of teaching group sizes, Multi-purpose rooms for use for range of activities, Extensive visual arts and media production facilities, Specialist facilities for students with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Learning Resource Centre , Good sports facilities (sports hall/multi-use games area areas, gym, dance, drama), Spaces for displays and for flexible teaching and learning, Large spaces for assemblies and public examinations, Good access to all areas of the curriculum for people with disabilities, Excellent ICT enabling ICT to be used across the curriculum.

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Boris Johnson has just cut the police budget and proposes to cut 455 police officers by the end of his first term in office, which was today voted through by the Tories on the Greater London Authority. This follows Johnson reneging on his commitment to chair the Metropolitan Police Authority, to lead the fight against crime… Two weeks ago he resigned as chair.

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Labour on the London Assembly will today vote against Boris Johnson’s plans to axe Met police officers.

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Karen Jennings, with local activists Makbule Gunes and Eugene Akwasi-Ayisi, paid a visit to the Campsbourne to see the impact of Labour’s £85 million investment in the Decent Homes programme in Hornsey.

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London Labour MPs today raised the issues of Boris Johnson’s cuts to police officer numbers and his broken promises on policing. Their contributions came during this afternoon’s debate in the House of Commons on the police grant.

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