I'm supporting Rebecca Long-Bailey's campaign for Labour leader and here's why

The Labour leadership contest is in full swing and with only a few days to go before the members ballot drop and they get their chance to vote and have their say, I have decided to write a formal endorsement of Rebecca Long-Bailey.

I believe that the main reason for our awful defeat in the 2019 General Election was the awful Brexit policy we landed on when we decided to endorse a second referendum on Brexit and I don't believe we lost this election on our socialist policies or the manifesto that we put forward to the country.

One mistake Labour made on the manifesto was the way it was presented as we could of presented our policies in a more deliverable way for the public. The biggest issue of the 2019 General Election was Brexit and Boris's policy on brexit was three words which worked fantastic as a campaign slogan and we had three paragraphs, which didn't work so well.

We tried to compromise with the side of the party that wanted a second referedum on Brexit but it turns out you cannot promise with the British people on such a massive issue for our country. The British people wanted Labour to take a side, either leave or remain and we picked the wrong side as it was clear that leaving the EU had a general consensus of acceptance with the British people. We lost the northern red wall as a result, british areas with a history of voting Labour deserted us over the Brexit issue because of the stance that we took.

It became impossible to try and get other issues on the agenda such as the NHS, housing, education, Tory austerity and Universal Credit because Brexit dominated the political discussion and this election was all about Brexit.

I believe Rebecca Long-Bailey knows what went wrong in the last election, argued against a second referendum policy in the shadow cabinet for the entire time and this is, in my opinion, the greatest argument to why she should be the next leader.

Now is not the time to water down our socialist policies and move Labour to the centre-ground and ditch a huge chunk of our manifesto, we need someone who will be able to connect with the British people again, especially working class northerners to regain the red wall and Rebecca is the one to do that, she doesn't just represent the working class of this country, she is the working class of this country.

As far as I am concerned, the chicken coup launched against Jeremy Corbyn in 2016 after the result of the EU referendum did the party irreversible harm and damaged our electability and was one of the main reasons why we didn't quite achieve in the 2017 General Election and every Labour MP who participated in that attack against Jeremy Corbyn should be ashamed of themselves. With the elimination of Emily Thornberry after she failed to receive enough support, Rebecca Long-Bailey is the only one of the leadership candidates left in the running who did not participate in the coup and we cannot reward bad behaviour within the Labour party.

The Labour party need to be a party for the working class and under Jeremy Corbyn, Labour reclaimed its socialist routes and re-adopted socialist policies and became a real left-wing movement which went toe to toe with the Tories and we almost toppled them from power in 2017, and the only difference in 2019 was our unelectable Brexit policy which Keir Starmer was at the helm of. We gave in to the right of the party is what I am trying to say, the right of the party that never wanted Jeremy to win. Rebecca Long-Bailey is the candidate that we can trust with our socialist policies and with the democracy of our party.

Rebecca made headlines when she announced her support for open selection for parliamentary elections, which is already seen at council selection level for Labour councillors. Rebecca has always supported the rights of the Palestinian people and their right to self governance and self determination and has been critial of the Israeli government's atacks on the Palestinian people.

Together we can take Labour back into government and create real change but only if we stick to our socialist policies and principles to create real change right across this country.

Good luck, Rebecca Long-Bailey!

New year starts in Tilgate for Crawley Labour

 

2019 has been a successful start to the year for Crawley Labour as we kick of our 2019 campaign in Tilgate, the very ward that I am standing in for Labour in the local elections in May 2019.

It was lovely to welcome MP Helen Hayes to Crawley and to discuss with her Labour policy and Labour's plan to create a Britain, For the many, Not the few.

Residents in Tilgate and consistently contacted me with issues of increased crime in the area, and about their concerns about the universal credit benefit system that is due to be adopted in Crawley this year.

It is very concerning that the Tories austerity programme has meant that less police are on our streets which has caused crime levels to massively rise

The Labour council is taking action by introducing a Public Space Protection Order which was passed by the Labour cabinet to try resolve the issues that Tilgate is facing, partiucally with Tilgate Park and the parade.

Tilgate residents in Crawley should contact me at kirankhan@email.com for any local issues, or sitting councillor for Tilgate, Carlos Castro.

Jeremy Corbyn and the stupid woman debate

This week during Prime Minister's Questions, the Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, was accused of calling the Prime Minister a 'stupid woman' at the end of their heated exchanges and I want to respond to the debate and matter.

If Jeremy Corbyn did call the Prime Minister a stupid woman, then of course, it is not acceptable language to use in the House of Commons, however, it is ironic for the Tories to use this to champion women's rights, but at the same time defending policies that hurt women across this country such as the rape clause, the bedroom tax and their awful austerity policies have hit women the hardest.

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2017/12/budget-s-cuts-fall-mostly-women-we-need-numbers-fight 

Last year, David Mundell, swore at Yvette Cooper after she asked the Prime Minister a question during PMQs and I do not remember a huge deal being made about this.

I believe this whole situation has been blown out of proportion from the Goverment to distract us from the fact that Brexit is less than 100 days away and they have completely failed to come back to parliament with an acceptable deal that would command a majority from all sides of the house.

The Tories are no feminists and cannot pretend to be when it suits their agenda to launch attack on attack on the Labour party to distract us from their own failed record over the last eight years in power.

I find it highly concerning that parliament are continuing to use time debating comments that Jeremy Corbyn may or may not have said, all the while, Brexit is less than 100 days away and that should be the main concern right now.

The entire thing was used as a distraction, not only from the mess of Brexit but the 85 million worth of cuts they just passed through. But again, that doesnt negate the problem with misogyny, both in politics and in society. It does need to be addressed.

I don't believe Jeremy Corbyn is misogynistic but I do believe that misogyny does exist in politics and it should be addressed.

Why I'm running for local council

I recently was selected to be one of Labour's candidates for Tilgate Ward in Crawley for the May Local Elections 2019. This means people who live in Tilgate, Crawley, will get to see my name on the ballot paper next May and be able to vote for me to be their local ward councillor on Crawley Borough Council. 

Crawley has been devested by central government austerity and local council funding cuts and it has had a huge impact on the lives of the residents of Crawley. Recently, Crawley Labour ran a campaign to stop the closure of our homeless shelter after Tory controlled West Sussex County Council proposed scrapping their entire housing support budget which means man vulnerable people will be left without shelter.

Local funding cuts have meant that Crawley Borough Council budgets continued to get slashed year after year, which means it gets diffcult to run the top class public services that we demand. 
  
Local services face further £1.3 billion government funding cut in 2019/20 and councils are risk of going bankrupt across the country and it is vital that Labour councillors across the country, Crawley included, continue to fight these cuts and prove to be strong opposition to cruel Tory idelogy. 
This is not good enough and is destroying the lives of people across our towns as Local councils do make a difference in peoples lives and are often the last line of defence in protecting vulnerale people.

Your vote could say enough is enough and we want a different future for our councils. 
Vote Labour in May and send a message to this Tory government which clearly states that auestiery policies will no longer be tolerated.

On the council, my main priority would be to provide strong opposition to any kind of austerity policies, maintaining decent public services for all and pushing for more affordable and council housing to be built.

Labour councillors make a difference and together we can fight to get Labour councillors elected across Crawley and across the country.

Vote Labour in May 2019

Facebook - @kirankhanlabour

Twitter - @kirankhanlabour

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NHS Demostration 30/6/2018

Happy Birthday NHS!

It has been 70 years since the creation of our NHS and me and thousands of other British people marched to Downing Street to protest the handing of the NHS by the Tory government

Ran into a few familiar faces and met some amazing people and politicans

 

 

NHS Demostration at Downing street 3/2/2018

On 3/2/2018, I was proud to be one of the 60,000 british people who marched from Gower Street to Downing Street to demand that the Tories give the NHS the funding it needs to surivive as an health institituion, always free at the point of use and to demand an end to the cuts that have damaged out health service.

Today in Tilgate with Councillor Carlos Castro

 

The may elections are coming real soon and the Tories will be targeting all the marginal areas in our town, especially areas like Tilgate.

Today me and Tilgate Councillor Carlos Castro did some campaigning, delivering leaflets and speaking to business/shop owners in Tilgate parade about local issues leading up to May.

These next few months will be crunch time if we want to keep the council under Labour control and we are ready for the fight.

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