Labour-led Haringey council backed off last week from proposals to privatise an estate of around 1,000 council homes in the Noel Park ward of Tottenham.
But the north London council is pushing ahead with plans to demolish council housing, including the Broadwater Farm estate, to make way for private developers.
Haringey Defend Council Housing activist Paul Burnham is standing against Labour in a by-election in Noel Park on Thursday of this week, as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC).
He told Socialist Worker, “It shows opposition is starting to have an effect.
“Labour’s new leader Jeremy Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell are longstanding supporters of Defend Council Housing and opponents of privatisation.
“Its new London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan opposes social cleansing.
“Yet the Labour council in Haringey is pushing ahead with a programme of demolition, privatisation and social cleansing—and openly says people will have to get better jobs and earn more money if they want to stay in the borough.
“The election is part of a longer process to make sure that neoliberal agenda stops.”
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