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Labour let us down, Respect split... now I’m Lib Dem
• I THANK the CNJ for drawing attention to me joining the Lib Dem community (Lib Dems boosted by new blood, but Labour say switch shows a ‘lack of principles’ August 21).
I am proud to be a member of the Liberal Democrats. I believe I should have joined them a long time ago. Like many other people in Camden, over my lifetime I have seen the effects of Labour, and have come to the conclusion that it has let down our community badly.
I am also proud of the community who have supported me during my election campaigns and difficult times with the split in the Respect party. Now many have joined me in supporting the Liberal Democrats.
Regarding my principles, time will judge. I have a suggestion: if my move to the Lib Dems is making any members of other parties nervous that the Bangladeshi community may sway away from Labour to the Lib Dems then I also welcome them to join me. Why should they feel left out?
When I stood for election previously, I gained support for being myself, and not because of my membership of any party.
I am delighted to be a member of the Liberal Democrats, and will do all I can to assist my community, through the party, to change my home for the better.
MUKUL HIRA
Chalton Street, NW1
• NO one can be blamed for feeling depressed at the state of Gordon Brown’s Labour government. It seems the more unpopular it gets, the worse it gets – threatening even more privatisation and lining up even more closely with US warmongering. That makes the need for a real alternative to New Labour even more desperate.
But it is desperation to hope that joining the Lib Dems in Camden might be that alternative, as Mukul Hira just has.
The Lib Dems have privatised meals-on-wheels in Camden and are starting a trial to privatise our caretakers. They are bringing in an academy school and ruthlessly ignoring the havoc and opposition they are causing in schools. They are selling off our council houses and cutting our youth clubs.
Anyone can change their mind, but Mukul has campaigned passionately against privatisation, against academy schools, against council house sales and against cuts in youth provision.
Yet he has joined a party that is doing all of these.
It is a tragic shame that the Respect party split, but hoping against hope that either Labour or the Lib Dems have changed their spots doesn’t give a way forward. Much better to look towards the growing resistance to their policies. The Camden tenants’ movement, the campaigns to defend our schools, the resistance to privatising our GPs and the strikes by council workers, teachers and cleaners on the Underground and at Eurostar fighting for a living wage.
There is a growing resistance; there is a mood for unity. Here and there we are beginning to win some victories. Those who are desperate for an alternative should join with other like-minded people and get stuck in to building this fight back.
CANDY UDWIN
Ossulston Street, NW1
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