No Consensus in Ealing on Labour Leadership Race

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Julian Bell and other Councillors write 'anyone but Corbyn' open letter to members

All four candidates for Labour leader are attracting support from parts of the local party organisation with no consensus emerging on who should lead the party.

Ealing Council leader, Julian Bell, and twenty other borough Councillors have sent out an open letter to local party members urging them to vote for Liz Kendall.

Julian Bell - 'Liz is Labour's best chance of beating the Tories in 2020'

If states, “As Councillors from Ealing we know how hard the Tory government has hit our Borough. Ealing Council funding has been cut by £183m between 2010 and 2018 - that is over 50% of our budget - and the Borough has also been hit hard by unfair welfare cuts that target the poorest and those on low pay.

“Since the General Election in May, we're already seeing communities throughout the Borough suffering because of the Tory government and one of their first acts was to close down Ealing Hospital's Maternity Unit. As Councillors we can see first-hand how much Ealing needs a Labour government.”

“We believe that Liz is Labour's best chance of beating the Tories in 2020. For the communities let down by Labour failing to win in May - and for the millions who need us - that's what really matters. If Labour doesn't win elections, we can't put any of our values into action to improve the lives and life chances of ordinary working people.”

The letter also recommends that that voters cast their second and third preference votes for Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham in the order of their choice. The Leadership ballot is a preferential vote, which means those voting rank candidates as their 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th choice. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in the first ballot the other candidates' 2nd and 3rd preferences will be redistributed until one candidate has more than 50% of the vote. Early polling is suggesting that Jeremy Corbyn could win without 2nd and 3rd preference votes needing to be counted.

The local constituency parties have not gone for Liz Kendall with Ealing Southall nominating Andy Burnham and Ealing Central and Acton choosing Yvette Cooper. Virendra Sharma MP for Ealing Southall and Steve Pound in Ealing North nominated Yvette Cooper with Rupa Huq in Ealing Central and Acton opting for Jeremy Corbyn.

The voting for Labour leader closes on 10 September and the winner will be announced at a special conference on 12 September.

August 18, 2015