Radical alternative on offer in Hackney

The Cazenove Independents are campaigning in Hackney

Des Barrow is standing for the Cazenove Independents in Cazenove ward, Hackney.

I’m standing with a Turkish‑Kurdish activist, Ceren Sagir. She’s a community activist in the area, and I’m an activist with the NEU teachers’ union.

As a teacher, I’m highlighting how eight schools in the borough have been closed in the last few years. And we’re facing cuts to support workers in our schools.

We’re appalled by the council’s stance on Palestine. It refused to de-twin with Haifa, the main port of entry for arms going to Israel. And it refused to disinvest council pension funds from Israel.

Housing is also vitally important to our campaign.

House prices in Hackney have risen sevenfold since 2000. Rents are increasing and becoming completely unaffordable for most people. The council’s built 1,000 new homes since 2011, but there are 8,500 households on the waiting list.

The attempts to close Ridley Road Shopping Village are emblematic of what’s happening across our borough. Land is being handed over to developers to build homes for higher income young professionals rather than maintaining services for local people.

We want councillors who will fight for more money from the government rather than managing cuts. We want to fight for fully funded services and rent controls.

Reform UK’s standing in every ward in Hackney, so we also want to say no to Reform’s racism.

We’ve leafleted outside the local mosque and got a great response. We’ve been invited to go back and speak there again. And we’re leafleting the whole ward with our third leaflet.

We’re meeting people who went on the Together march on 28 March and want to get involved. Everywhere we go, we meet lots of enthusiastic people who want a radical alternative.