Next branch meeting - 8pm 10 January 2012

For more information email the Branch Secretary on sruislipandmanorlp@blueyonder.co.uk

Ken challenges Boris to TV debate on fares

Ken Livingstone, Labour's London Mayoral candidate, has written to Mayor Boris Johnson today challenging him to hold a TV debate on his fares policy for Transport for London. Ken's letter follows the responses made by Boris Johnson and his aides to Ken's Fare Deal plan announced last week.

Boris Johnson
under pressure from Ken?

Ken has promised if elected next May to cut fares by seven per cent in Autumn 2012, freeze fares in 2013 and subsequently end above-inflation rises as now planned by Boris Johnson. Ken estimates his plan will save Londoners £1,000 on average by 2016.

This compares with Boris Johnson's policy of raising fares by almost six per cent next next month which is in additon to the 34 per cent that fares have already increased since he became Mayor in 2008.

After Ken announced his Fare Deal plan Boris Johnson soon announced a reduction in next month's fare rises from seven per cent to 5.6 per cent. Mayor Johnson's aides admit that fares have already increased by more than by 34 per cent since he became Mayor 2008.

Ken Livingstone

Ken has said he will use a £206 million surplus he had discovered in Transport for London's accounts to fund the seven per cent fares cut and subsequent price freeze.

Ken says in his letter to Boris Johnson "Every year you have an excess operating surplus in your budget and every year you significantly underestimate the amount of revenue you get from fare payers. At the same time you have actually under-spent your capital budget, meaning you have not even invested as much on transport as you could have.

I believe you are significantly over-charging the travelling public, at a point when the state of the economy and the impact of cuts and higher charges such as VAT are making their lives harder."

Why we support public sector workers defending their pensions

Today the Chancellor promised to ensure Britain "remains the home of global banks and that London is the world's pre-eminent financial centre".

In other words, the Government is committed to subsidising, bailing out and rewarding the City of London -- at the cost of public sector workers, pensioners and private firms.

Tomorrow, hundreds if not thousands of public service workers in Hillingdon will take industrial action. These are ordinary working men and women who are striking to protect the pension schemes they have paid into.  Is it too much to ask for a retirement without poverty after a lifetime of public service?

It is not just refuse workers, teachers, health workers, civil servants, meals on wheels providers who are being fleeced by the cabinet millionaires. It is also their families, many of whom work low paid in the private sector, who depend on these pensions.

That is why this issue has gathered such wide-spread support from trades unions which have never previously taken part in industrial action. .

Yet if you believed the Government’s line you would be forgiven for thinking that tomorrow’s strikers are greedy, self-serving and not living in the real world.  

Since the election in 2010 Conservative ministers have been systematically attacking public sector services and directly or by inference public service workers. They are attempting to use public sector pensions to divide public sector and private sector workers. But never does a Government minister ask why private sector employers were cutting employees' pensions during the years of growth and prosperity? The Conservatives take every opportunity to call public servants lazy, wasteful, entrenched, overpaid, privileged, enemies of enterprise - except of course when they threaten to withdraw their hard work. Only then do Tories start adding up the value added by public services.

Education Secretary of State Michael Gove this week described some union leaders as “militants itching for a fight”.  In reality it’s the Government that has been itching for the fight, setting up public sector workers as the Aunt Sallys while supporting their friends in the City, the real authors of the financial straits we face.

We should resist this Government’s attack on public services and public sector workers.  Everyone except the very rich will be harmed by the Conservative ideological attacks on public services.  

When a Conservative MP asked this week “Will the Prime Minister acknowledge that the most disruptive impacts of next week’s strikes will be on mums and dads with children in school?“ she  was peddling deceits using sound-bites and scare tactics, rather than addressing  the real issues.

The first deception is that public employees somehow owe us their work. They do not. They are not slaves, nor convicted to hard labour. They get paid to do a job. A strike is the withdrawal of that labour at the worker’s own cost.

Second, a strike would be utterly pointless as an expression of extreme dissatisfaction, if it did not have some disruptive impact. The brunt of this impact is borne by the striking workers who do not get paid while on strike. It is untrue to say that giving up 20% of their weekly pay in the current economic climate is a decision taken lightly.

Third, is the implication that public servants are not mums and dads, with the suggestion that no mums and dads support the strike. They do!

Did the same Tory MPs complain about the Government’s decision to give a bank holiday to celebrate the Royal Wedding in May? Did they express concern for all the waiters, shop workers, hospital workers, taxi drivers, police, pub staff and plumbers would look after their children, with schools closed? No they did not!

If you work in the private sector do not be misled into resentment of public sector workers. Ask who is really benefiting from all these attacks on the public sector.

Ken's policy week

Ken Livingstone

The Ken Livingstone campaign is holding 4 policy workshops in London in the run-up to the Mayoral election in May 2012 and the publication of the manifesto.




The meetings are to be held at the LP offices at 39 Victoria Street from 6.30pm to 8pm and the details are as follows:

• Crime and Policing Evening Monday 28th November
• Transport and Fares Evening Tuesday 29th November
• Young People 30th Wednesday November
• Housing 1st Thursday December

They are open to all Labour Party members and members of affiliated organisations. The aim is to discuss policy and to build campaigning momentum ahead of the elections in May.

 

A more detailed agenda will be sent to attendees before the meeting.

 

To register your interest in attending click here.

Help Ken's campaign with Navin Shah AM in Harrow this Saturday

Navin Shah - Labour Party  Assembly Member
for Brent and Harrow

WHAT: Action day in Harrow with Navin Shah AM
WHEN:   Saturday November 19, 2011 at 10:30am
WHERE:  Labour Party Office,
                 132 Blenheim Road, Harrow,
                 HA2 7AA
(a short walk from West Harrow Tube station)

CONTACT:   Andrew Clark  07595090033
For more information click here

'The housing crisis should dominate next year's Mayoral Election'

A new report paints bleak picture of London housing market, with an entire generation locked out of the housing market.

To buy a house of average price in L.B. Hillingdon with a 75% mortgage requires an annual income of £60,518, while the average income is only £26,068.Even to buy a house of lower value requires an income of £43,929.

National Housing Federation assistant director Kate Dodsworth said: 'An entire generation has been locked out of a broken market. The housing crisis should dominate next year’s mayoral election as Londoners face their own Olympian struggle to find a home they can afford.

The average Londoner would need to triple their salary to £87,000 to buy an average price property in the capital, according to a report launched today by the National Housing Federation. .

And if owning a home looks a forlorn hope renting is not looking much better. Private sector rents have risen 30% since 2008 and are expected to rise by a further 20% in the next 5 years.

Government Ministers have consistently argued that the changes in local housing allowance would lead to reduced rents in the private rented sector and would not lead to more homelessness.

One year later rent have increased 12% meanwhile a report by London Councils estimates the Household Benefit Cap and Housing Benefit cuts will leave 133,000 households unable to pay their current rents. In 2010/11 10,180 families were accepted as homeless and in priority need by London councils, an 8% rise on the previous year and the first increase since 2004.

Meanwhile the Goverment's solution is to provide social rented homes at 'affordable rents' which is double-speak for unnaffordable rents.

New social housing being  supplied at ‘affordable rents’ means setting rents in Westminster at 65% of market rents. This  would require a household income of £65,000 to cover the cost without benefit.

In Haringey, a rent set at 80% of local market rents would require a household income of £31,000 for a 1 bed flat, and in Newham a 2 bed flat would require a household income of £27,000.

No Easy Options: Irregular immigration in the UK

We are pleased to pass on an open invitation to all local Labour Party members to hear Tim Finch , the Director of Communications for IPPR, the Institute for Public Policy Research, who has agreed to talk at the next CLP meeting of Uxbridge & S Ruislip Constituency LP about the report he co-wrote earlier this year on how to control Irregular Immigration, one of the most difficult of public policy issues in the UK.

Tim Finch

Given that the best recent estimate put the number of irregular immigrants in the UK at well over half a million, the scale of the phenomenon is one obvious reason why it demands attention.

The meeting will be held at 8pm Wednesday 23 November 2011 at Christ Church, Redford Way, Belmont Road, Uxbridge, UB8 1SZ.

Christ Church is just a few minutes walk away from Uxbridge Undereground station and bus station.

 

For more information email Paul Espley, Branch Secretary at South Ruislip and Manor Branch LP

Outrage at closure of daycare centres for severely disabled adults

If a civilised society should be judged by how it can provide for its most vulnerable people then we should be concerned how posterity will look back at Hillingdon Council in 2011.

Labour Group Leader
Cllr Mo Khursheed

Labour's leader on Hillingon Council, Cllr Mo Khursheed, has described plans for replacing three day centres with one larger centre in Queens Walk, South Ruislip as outrageous.


Cllr Khursheed says the planned  one large centre is "out of line with current thought that favours smaller day service provision" and the overall reduction "from the current 140 places to just 70 in one new day centre" disregards the evidence of increased need contained in two papers submitted to the Council's Cabinet on 30th September.

"An immediately obvious issue is that one day centre to cover all 43 square miles of Hillingdon will entail people travelling further than currently. For those of us that live in Hillingdon, we are fully aware that it is criss-crossed by motorways and major roads. It only takes one problem and grid-lock usually follows. Already carers and users complain about the fairly long periods of time users spend on transport getting to provision. The new proposals will compound these problems. Possibly users may spend more time travelling than they actually do at the new mega day centre. I am coming to the conclusion that the retention of at least one of the south Day Centres is vital because of this."

In the Disabilities Commissioning Plan 2011-2015 the Council said the needs of all service users at the affected day centres - Phoenix in South Ruislip, Woodside in Hayes and Parkview in Hillingdon - would be reviewed

One Harefield resident "whose 29-year-old son needs 24-hour care for his rare metabolic disease and epilepsy" has expressed anger the closure of Phoenix Cenre, South Ruislip, as it will cause "major upheaval in her life and severe distress to her disabled son".

"Chris goes to Phoenix Day Centre five days a week during school term time, and has three nights a month respite, which helps us have some independence.

"As I work at a school I care for him full-time during the holidays, as well as in the mornings and evenings after work. This is becoming increasingly difficult as I get older and sometimes struggle to get through a day.

"To now hear via our local newspaper that the day centre is to close is devastating."

" Chris found travelling long distances stressful, and she would have to give up her job to care for him full-time if Phoenix closed".

Cllr Khursheed concludes his remarks " I fear these proposals are not about doing the best for our residents, they are more concerned with balancing the books".

NHS cancer figures contradict David Cameron and Andrew Lansley's claims

"David Cameron and Andrew Lansley's repeated criticisms of the NHS's record on cancer have been contradicted by new research that shows the health service to be an international leader in tackling the disease, as  reported in the Guardian.

While the Tory led coalition Government attempts to justify their shake up of the NHS to introduce further privatisation, it turns out that  the publically owned, tax payer funded, free at the point of use system is actually very efficient in the treatment of cancer.

"In fact, the NHS in England and Wales has helped achieve the biggest drop in cancer deaths and displayed the most efficient use of resources among 10 leading countries worldwide, according to the study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Private tenants given two months to get out after nearly 10 years

As reported in the Uxbridge Leader,  a commercial private landlord has given 8 families in North Road, Hayes, two months notice get out of their homes so they can be sold.
All eight tenants, who had been resident for up to ten years,  are all on Assured Shorthold Tenancies which provide virtually no security of tenure.

Their Labour ward Councillor Janet Gardiner is reported to be raising the issue of tenants' rights at the next full Hillingdson Council meeting.

Private renting - the housing horror stories

Ken Livingstone

Rip-off agency fees. Deposits lost unfairly. Rogue landlords evicting tenants with little notice and hiking rent with no warning. Smashed windows, faulty locks and broken fridges not being fixed for weeks or months. Rodent infestations. Damp and mouldy bathrooms being left to rot.These are just some of the housing horror stories Londoners renting in the capital have told Ken Livingstone,  Labour's Mayoral candidate, about in recent months. He is under no illusions that there are many more out there. If you have a similar story you would like to share contact Ken Livingstone here.

 But I don't rent privately so how does this affect me? Well read on:

A recent housing market analysis undertaken by Oxford Economics (OE) confirms that owner occupation in London is increasingly unaffordable . In 2001 owner occupation accounted for 60% of households in London. In 2010 it had fallen to 52%. OE estimate this will fall to just above 40% by 2025.

The fall in owner occupation will force more people to rent privately as it is impossible for social housing (Councils and Housing Associations) will fill the gap.  OE estimate rents in London will rise by 4% each year over the next 10 years.

 The Halifax who coined the phrase ‘Generation Rent’ to show that people no longer feel that they will be able to buy and that half of 20-45 year olds now think renting is the norm, similar to much of the rest of Europe.

 The increasing number of families unable to pay the mortgage and facing repossession are typically families on middle and low incomes. They are often younger families who stretched themselves to buy during the mid-2000s and do not have much of a cushion to absorb a loss in income or an increase in their mortgage rate.

 As our communities become more reliant on private landlords to provide their homes more people are suggesting that the private sector needs reform. The Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST), with very limited security of tenure, was introduced in 1989 to encourage new landlords into the market and was seen as an acceptable option for younger mobile workers.

As a result there are a lot more small landlords using property as an investment encouraged by buy-to-let financing and inheritance. Many of these smaller landlords use agents to find tenants and manage their property at often extortionate rates. Some agents charge sitting tenants an extortionate fee just to renew the tenancy each year, sometimes without the knowledge of the landlord.  A small proportion of landlords have leased their property to social landlords to house homeless families at market rents and largely paid for by the taxpayer through housing benefit. This is particulary ironic when the rented property was previously a Council home sold at a discount under the right-to-buy.

 Extremely high rents are almost exclusively found in London and areas close to London with good commuter links.  In L.B Hillingdon average rent for a 2 bed home costs £968 or 49% of average take-home pay, which is actually one of the cheapest areas in London. As a result when housing benefit cuts start to take hold in 2012  we can expect increased pressure on the local housing market from low income families forced to move out of central London because of cuts in benefits and tax credits.

 As private renting becomes the norm there is real concern over the suitability of the AST for young families with children. With high rents and insecure AST working families can be forced to move regularly which will have other negative social consequences and the disruption this can cause for their schooling, child care arrangements and work options. Those households particularly vulnerable are at risk of being exploited.

There is an urgent need for government to pay more attention to the sector.
 
Here are some of the questions being asked by Steve Hilditch and others in the Labour Party:

• Are there mechanisms by which rents could be constrained without impacting unduly on supply?
• Could rent restraint be linked to the achievement of decency standards? 
• Do we want to control the transfer of owner occupied homes into private renting, and especially into multiple occupation? 
• Are there ways of ensuring that new investment in private renting is channeled into supporting new build instead? 
• In a period of huge cuts, what more can be done to improve monitoring and enforcement against rogue landlords?

Let us have your comments on any of the above or if you would like to share your experiences of private renting either as a tenant or landlord please post a comment below.

Fund raising

This morning Branch members raised a total of £57.04 at a local car boot sale selling goods donated by branch members and supporters, to offset some of the costs incurred in local campaigning.

The money raised will be paid into the CLP accounts next week.

Many thanks to all members and supporters who contributed to the stall either in time or donations.

If you would like to make a donation to the Branch to support our local campaigning email South Ruislip and Manor LP.

Next branch meeting: 1 November 8pm

The next branch meeting will be held at 8pm Tuesday 1 November.

For more information on the venue and agenda email South Ruislip and Manor LP

I’ll cut fares for Londoners - Ken

Ken Livingstone today announced details of an emergency fares package to cut fares which he would introduce if elected in May 2012.

Ken promised to rip up Boris Johnson’s ‘high fare’ policy which has committed Londoners to 20 years of fare increases at 2% above inflation and replace it with a fairer fares package starting with an immediate overall fares cut:

* An overall cut in fares for Londoners of 5% in the autumn of 2012

* No further fare rises at all in 2013.

* From January 2014 and in subsequent years no fare rises above RPI inflation.

Ken Livingstone said, “Fares must be cut - on transport grounds to make the system more attractive, but also on economic grounds to put ordinary Londoners first by putting money back in the pockets that will boost the London economy. I’m drawing a line in the sand - Boris Johnson will hit you with a painful fare increase this coming January, but if I am elected by October the fares will be cut. There could be no clearer choice."

For more information see  Ken for London

Next branch meeting - Tuesday 4 October 2011

The next branch meeting will be held 8pm Tuesday 4 October.

For more information email sruislipandmanorlp@blueyonder.co.uk for further details.

Tory Housing Minister creates fear for home owners

No less than 159 leading legal academics, solicitors and barristers who practise in housing law have accused Conservative politicians, including Grant Shapps, the outspoken Housing Minister,  of "making misleading statements and failing to challenge inaccurate reporting'  thereby furthering 'the myths being peddled around squatting".

In a letter to the Guardian the legal experts point out "that it is already a criminal offence for a squatter to occupy someone's home, or a home that a person intends to occupy" and "are concerned that such repeated inaccurate reporting of this issue has created fear for homeowners, confusion for the police and ill informed debate among both the public and politicians on reforming the law."

The lawyers are adamant that there is no need for a change in the law to make squatting a criminal offence because the existing law already does this.


One has to wonder why are these Conservative politicians are stirring up such concerns unnecessarily and pursuing such pointless campaign at a time when homelessness has risen 17% in a year?

Could it be that the Tories are  protecting their rich friends' property interests by extending the law on squatting or are they deliberately turning public opinion against the poor?


Leslie Morphy, chief executive of Crisis, said two weeks ago: ‘Today’s official figures prove once again we now face a sustained increase in homelessness but, worryingly, this research predicts the worst is yet to come.

‘The coalition government is dismantling the buffers against poverty and unemployment that have traditionally kept a roof over vulnerable households’ heads. Homelessness is rising and we fear cuts to housing benefit and housing budgets, alongside reforms in the Welfare Reform and Localism Bills will cause it to increase yet further. We need the government to change course now or risk returning us to the days of countless lives facing the debilitating effects of homelessness.’

Cost cutting on democracy could exclude 10 million voters

At the moment, councils up and down the country are getting people to register to vote as part of their annual canvass.  The way we register voters hasn’t changed much in over 100 years but a new system of individual registration is being introduced in 2014.

Individual voter registration is supported by all the main parties and will make it much easier to prevent voting fraud. Unfortunately, the way the government is planning to implement it is causing concern and could leave as many as 10 million people excluded from the political process.

There are two big problems with the government’s plans, quietly published over the summer. They plan to drop the full annual canvass in 2014 as a cost-cutting exercise. The Electoral Commission warns that this alone could result in 2-3 million people unregistered.

The government is also proposing to scrap the legal obligation for people to provide their local Electoral Registration Officer with information; essentially people will be able to drop off the electoral map.

With only 65% of registered voters actually casting their vote in the last general election, this change in the law will inevitably make it harder for local authorities and political parties to engage with those groups who are already under-represented. Together with the scrapping of the canvass, this could lead to up to 10 million fewer people on the register, predominantly young people, people living in privately rented accommodation and members of ethnic minorities.

Combine this with the controversial new system of boundary reviews and it becomes even more toxic; some of the most deprived and alienated voters will be left without proper representation at all. It would also adversely affect the jury system and impact on individuals’ credit ratings.

The voting system leaves enough people out in the cold as it is without the registration system making things worse. We can’t let these proposals become law without significant changes.

A number of MPs have already voiced their concerns by signing “Early Day Motion 2187: Impact of Individual Voter Registration” (an Early Day Motion is a type of petition that MPs can add their name to to express an opinion about an issue).

Please write to our local MP,

John Randall MP,

House of Commons

Houses of Parliament

London SW1A 0AA

and ask him to you write to the Parliamentary Under Secretary for Political and Constitutional Reform Mark Harper to ask him to abandon these plans and,  if he has not already done so, sign Early Day Motion 2187: Impact of Individual Voter Registration.

For a draft letter click on the this link to Unlock Democracy. 


Acknowledgements to Unlock Democracy as the source of this article.

Boundary change proposals published today

The Boundary Commission has just published proposals for consultation for boundary changes to reduce the number of parliamentary seats.

Councillor Beulah East

The impact of the proposal on the Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency are the addition of two wards and loss of one ward.

It is proposed that the Ickenham ward, in the north of the Borough, which currently has three Conservative Councillors and Charville ward which currently has two Conservative councillors and one Labour Councillor, Councillor Beulah East, will come into the constituency.

In the other direction, Yiewsley Ward, which currently has one Labour Councillor, moves into the new Feltham and Hayes constituency.

The consultation by the Boundary Commission is open until 5 December 2011. Anyone can comment on line or attend one of a number of public hearings. The public hearing nearest to Ruislip will be held at Brent Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, Middlesex, HA9 9HD on 20  and 21 Oct 2011. If you wish to speak you must register before hand.

Boris Johnson breaks another promise.

According to the Dave Hill's Guardian London Blog "Boris Johnson has made no progress at all on his manifesto pledge to sell surplus GLA  land to Community Land Trusts (CLTs) and enabling genuinely affordable homes to be built on it and managed by housing co-operatives."
 
Even the right leaning Spectator describes Johnson's  failure as a "quiet tragedy" while "Londoners have watched prices outstrip wages in the private sector and demand outstrip supply in the social sector. As a result, millions of people – from high-flying young city workers to unemployed families – have been pushed into unaffordable and unstable private rented accommodation."


"Their (CLTs) genius is that they do not require hundreds of millions of pounds of public investment. Trusts simply require elected officials to put communities before speculators."

Ken Livingstone

Meanwhile Labour's Mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone has declared full support for "Co-operative principles of mutualism and decentralisation will be a key new element of Ken's new manifesto," it says in a statement. "We particularly believe the ideas on affordable and mutual housing make an extremely valuable contribution to debate about how we can tackle the housing crisis."

UK housing conditions among the worst in Western Europe

 A report being published today by the independent Pro-Housing Alliance maintains that housing conditions in the UK are among the worst in Western Europe and cost the nation about £7bn a year by adding to the pressure on the NHS and other public services.

The  Alliance, made up of a group of leading housing experts, sees housing fundamentally as a public health issue and is calling on the Government to adopt radical new measures to tackle the nation’s growing housing problems, which it claims are costing the country £7billion a year in costs to the NHS, social services and education.

 The Alliance claims a lack of affordable decent accommodation, cuts to local authority housing services, welfare reforms and overcrowding are combining to create stress and hardship for some of the most vulnerable people in the country who live in some of the  worst housing conditions in Western Europe.

The Alliance warns that  homelessness is on the rise and predicts the return of unscrupulous landlords like the infamous Peter Rachman, who exploited his London tenants in the 1950s and 1960s. Almost 4,000 people are sleeping rough on London's streets, an increase of 8 per cent since last year. About half of these are from the UK and the rest from a wide variety of other countries, notably Poland.

The report says there is little sign that the Mayor of London Boris Johnson's target of ending rough sleeping by next year will be met.

A report in yesterday's  Independent newspaper described a so-called "super-shed" in Newham, "a poorly constructed building not much larger than an average garden shed, is one of thousands of similar structures across the capital that housing campaigners label London's secret slums".

The Independent  report supports claims made by John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington  in a Parliamentary debate earlier this year when he described a housing crisis in the London Borough of Hillingdon which has left families living in "developing world conditions". 

McDonnell was specifically critical of the London Borough of Hillingdon’s housing policies, such as using local estate agents to gain private sector rental accommodation for families. "We have discovered that the estate agents it has been using have often used these buy-to-let slum landlords," he said.

He also believes there is an "informal agreement" in place where estate agents will only seek properties for vulnerable families in the poorer south of the borough, rather than the richer north. This is creating "an apartheid regime," he warned.


He added: "This has resulted in families living in appalling conditions and overcrowding. Some families are living in almost developing world conditions because some of the properties are so poor."

Another concern in Hillingdon is a "planning free-for-all" whereby landlords are erecting "leisure rooms" in their gardens to be rented by families.

McDonnell said: "What is happening is that landlords are constructing these leisure rooms and getting families to live in what are, in effect, garages".

"In some instances we have discovered these places only when the family has turned up to register for council tax and we have found out that they are living in a shed or a garage."

 

According to Bill Rashleigh, a researcher from Shelter, the homelessness charity,  in addition to the health risks of living in this sub-standard accommodation it leaves the tenants open to exploitation, "The danger is that tenants will be made imminently homeless, because when the council catches up with the landlords, you are going to get turfed out,"...... "You also have no recourse to law. If the landlord whacks the rent up then you have no claims to make under the law. You have no laws to protect your rights, and you are left open to exploitation, with your health at risk and with no security." 

In their report the Alliance sets out  recommendations designed to address the growing problems with housing in this country. Key recommendations include a call to provide 500,000 green and affordable homes per year for the next seven years (including the use of empty dwellings), a reform of land supply and land taxation to help fund regeneration and affordable housing initiatives, re-defining the term “affordable” and rescinding recent changes to housing benefit.

 

Dr Stephen Battersby, president of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, which brought the Alliance together, said: "The lack of a coherent housing policy for the past 30 years has created an expensive housing market with a shortage of affordable housing. 

(Acknowledgements to The Independent and Children & Young People Now)

Housing benefit cuts 'to force 1,000 children out of Hammersmith and Fulham schools'

Following a Freedom of Information request Labour MP, Andy Slaughter, has claimed that more than 1,000 children will have to leave schools in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham due to housing benefit cuts, as many families renting their homes will be forced to seek cheaper rented accommodation in other areas, such as L.B. Hillingdon.

On his website, Andy Slaughter MP  wrote: "For some months I have been requesting information on the effect of the Government’s cuts to Housing Benefit on Hammersmith & Fulham families.

"I understand why the council wants to conceal this information as it will mean hundreds of families uprooted and forced to leave their homes, moving to parts of the country where rents are lower.

"Many will be in low paid work where HB makes up the difference between what they can afford and the high rents charged by private landlords in west London. So they will lose jobs as well as homes and be forced to move far away from friends and families.


For more information see 24 Dash.com

Boris Johnson’s housing strategy: it’s all smoke and mirrors

If you want  an analysis of Boris Johnson's housing strategy I recommend you read Steve Hildtch in today's Red Brick Blog. 

Paul Espley

Boris Johnson's missing tube figures

Boris Johnson promised greater ‘accountability and transparency‘ in his manifesto.

Since 2003 Transport for London (TfL) have published monthly tube performance figures on their website which measures delays, station closures and excess journey time on the tube.

However these figures have not been updated for months. The last figures on the website are from the spring (6th March 2011) nearly five months ago
.
Is this an accident, a simple error or omission?

Or has there been a decision to reduce the public’s access to information about the state of their tube services?

Is it coincidence that these figures have been hidden from public view for months after the number of tube delays and closures started rising? The last published monthly tube performance figures (6th March 2011) showed tube delays across all 12 underground lines rose 6%.

What is Boris Johnson trying to hide?

Launch of GLA Campaign - 9 September social fund raisng event.

Dr Onkar Sahota

Dr Onkar Sahota's  campaign team are organising a Social Fund Raising Event to launch his GLA campaign on 9th September 2011, 7.00pm onwards at the: 

Crown Conference Centre
South Ruislip, 

Middlesex, HA4 0HN

Tickets are only £25 per person and include a three course meal, entertainment, special guest speaker and all drinks. Tickets and RSVPs to:

Ms Anita MacDonald

Campaign Manager

anita@onkarsahota.com

m:07906 142459

Mr Vinesh Vaswani

Campaign Consultant

vinesh@onkarsahota.com
m: 07711 191190

Office of Mr Virenda Sharma MP

112a The Green, Southall

Middlesex, UB2 4BG
t: 020 8571 1003 f: 020 8571 9991

Campaigning for a Labour Victory in 2012 - part 2

Thanks to the 14 members and supporters, including our GLA candidate for 2012 , Dr Onkar Sahota,  who went out today and finished off the delivery of 9000 leaflets to nearly every home in the Manor and South Ruislip wards.

Members and supporters meeting outside South Ruislip Station

Tell Ken what you think

The London Labour Party is inviting party members and affiliates to give Ken Livingstone their views on the most important issues which will shape London over the next four years. Click here to see the consultation document:  Put London First.

 Please send your responses by post to 'Put London First’, London Labour Party, 39 Victoria Street, London SW1A 0HA or by email to kylie_hammond@new.labour.org.uk

The deadline for responses to ’Put London First’ is 31st October.

Reverse your cuts to police, Ken tells Boris

 As reported in today's Evening Standard

Campaigning for a Labour Victory in 2012

 Onkar Sahota for Ealing and Hillingdon

We still have approximately 1500 leaflets remaining to deliver in the South Ruislip and Manor Wards before the end of August.

To help finish off the delivery before the end of the month all members and supporters are invited to meet up at 11am at South Ruislip Underground station, Long Drive, on Sunday 21 August.

For more information email sruislipandmanorlp@blueyonder.co.uk or telephone Paul Espley on 07521 380497

Click this link to go to the facebook event: Campaigning for a Labour victory 2012

South Ruislip and Manor Labour Rose Summer 2011 edition

The latest Branch newsletter has just been printed and delivery to the 9,000 homes in South Ruislip and Manor wards  started this weekend.  Click here to see:  Labour Rose Summer 2011 edition.

We would love to hear your feedback on the contents of this edition. If you would like to feedback to us your impressions or ideas  please click on 'Comments' below and write your comment.

Branch response to the HS2 consultation

To see the response submitted on behalf of the Branch to the Department for Transport  on 27 July 2011 click here .

Next branch meeting 13 September 2011

The next branch meeting is planned for Tuesday,13 September. Venue to be confirmed.

HS2 consultation deadline 29 July 2011 - responding made easy

The deadline to the public consultation is 29 July. This is your last chance to have your say on the Government's proposal which will have a massive impact on the South Ruislip and Manor wards.

The S Ruislip and Manor Labour Party are supporting the 'Ruislip Against HS2' campaign.

If you have not yet submitted your comments  a very quick and easy way to put together a response is to use  the SNAG website which allows you to select your response for each question: Click here to go to SNAG website 


(SNAG is the South Northamptonshire Action Group against the proposed High Speed Railway (HS2))

To see more about the Ruislip Against HS2 campaign click here: Ruislip Against HS2

Are Pickles and Shapps misleading the public on homelessness?

The link below explains how the Government is presenting a false impression of sincerity when claiming to help the homeless.

Are Pickles and Shapps misleading the public on homelessness?

Launch of our Summer Survey 2011

Please spend a few minutes and let us have your feedback on national and local issues by completing the Summer Survey 2011 on Useful Links list on the left hand side

Next branch meeting 12 July 2011

The next members' branch meeting is set for 8pm Tuesday 12 July. Email sruislipandmanorlp@blueyonder.co.uk for more information on venue.