Local election candidates address voters at Haringey hustings

Representatives of four parties made their election pitches at an event organised by Haringey Community Collaborative last week, reports Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter

Addressing the hustings, from left; Ruairidh Paton, Alison Davy, Nicholas Orford-Williams and Ajda Ovat (credit Joe Ives/LDRS)

Candidates from four different parties addressed Haringey voters at a hustings event ahead of next month’s local election.

The event, organised by Haringey Community Collaborative, was held at the London Alevi Cultural Centre and Cemevi last Thursday (16th) and focused on the issues facing the borough’s voluntary and community organisations.

The four candidates attending the hustings were Alison Davy from the Haringey Socialist Alliance (HSA), Green councillor Ruairidh Paton, Liberal Democrat candidate Nicholas Orford-Williams and Labour councillor Ajda Ovat.

Davy is standing in Northumberland Park, Cllr Paton is aiming to retain his seat in St Ann’s ward, and Orford-Williams is standing in Stroud Green.

Cllr Ovat is currently Haringey Council’s cabinet member for communities and is running to be re-elected as Labour ward councillor for Northumberland Park.

In her pitch to voters at the hustings, Davy urged residents to “take back power from the elites”.

If elected, Davy said the HSA would push for “intergenerational community hubs on every corner” as part of building community power and taking “power back from the elites”.

The socialist nominee differentiated herself from “career politicians”, saying: “We have seen the neglect and poverty in our communities and we know that political change is needed. For all the efforts of all the people in this room – we can bang our heads on a brick wall, we can work 24/7, but we need political change.”

Separately, Davy said the six HSA candidates standing for election on Thursday, 7th May, were “proud” to be endorsed by Jeremy Corbyn and Zara Sultana of Your Party, a newly-formed left-wing party nationally.

Ex-Labour leader Corbyn, Davy argued, “was too good for the Labour Party so they kicked him out”.

The HSA candidate told residents that she is a proud supporter of groups such as Stop the War, Extinction Rebellion and Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Lib Dem nominee Orford-Williams said he had been living in Haringey “pretty much” all his life. He said the local authority needed “to do a far better job at listening to the people” and also “fix” its finances by reducing its reliance on borrowing.

Orford-Williams described voluntary groups as “the centre of so many communities” and said they need to be “properly supported by the council”.

If elected, he said the Liberal Democrats would support residents through the cost-of-living crisis and deliver “better and more diverse housing”.

Cllr Paton said his party’s campaign was guided by “a simple principle: that power should sit with residents and our communities”.

The Green councillor said too few residents felt they could “meaningfully influence” decisions on the council, especially through its public consultations which, he argued, were flawed with “many in the community left out”.

Cllr Paton criticised the Labour administration’s rental charges for community organisations. But the Greens, he claimed, are “committed to doing things differently, working in genuine partnership with residents and the voluntary and community sector”.

If elected, Cllr Paton said the Greens would “put power back in residents’ hands” with participatory budgeting so “residents can actually have a say in how the council spends their money”.

Cllr Paton also said the his party would establish a “people’s asset commission” to put more council-owned buildings back in the hands of community groups and volunteers.

“If we want a fairer, more equitable borough we have to start by recognising where power lies – and that is not in [the] town hall, it is in our communities,” Cllr Paton said, adding: “Every day organisations and residents are doing the crucial work that holds our borough together.”

Representing the Labour-led local authority, Cllr Ovat responded to her challengers, saying: “Haringey is one of the most diverse boroughs in the country. Under this Labour administration we haven’t just celebrated that diversity, we’ve built our entire approach around it.

“We are an administration that looks like the community we serve and, more importantly, we govern with our community.

“We’ve worked hand-in-hand with residents and voluntary and community sector groups to build unity and tackle division, standing firmly against racism, antisemitism, islamaphobia, xenophobia and all forms of hate whilst strengthening trust across our borough.”

Cllr Ovat said her party had helped support and expand community networks “across our borough” for people of many cultural and faith backgrounds as well as those from the LGBTQI+ community.

The cabinet member argued that Labour had helped “raise awareness” around issues like autism support, created spaces for community organisations and developed “a close relationship with the voluntary and community sector”.

“We are not standing still,” Cllr Ovat concluded.

If elected she said Labour would continue to build strategies “shaped by residents”.

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