Cllr Rita Begum goes for Labour GLA seat

CLLR RITA BEGUM has been nominated by the Westminster Labour Party to be a considered as the Labour candidate for the West Central seat on the Greater London Assembley (GLA).

Cllr Begum has represented Maida Vale ward on Westminster Council since 2014. The West Central seat on the GLA includes the borough of Westminster – as well as the boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea. The GLA seat has an electorate of around 350,000.

The West Central seat is currently held by a Westminster Councillor: Tory Tony Devenish. Doubtless Cllr Begum would like to lead a campaign to unseat him – and it is a very winnable seat. At the last elections in 2016, just under half the voters turned out. Cllr Devenish received over 67,000 votes – but the second placed Labour candidate received over 53,000 votes. With Tory voters losing trust in the party or floating off to support UKIP or Nigel Farage, that’s not a huge margin to claw back.

Cllr Begum indulges her love for cricket.

A candidate with a strong attachment to Labour and a good campaigning record locally would be best placed to take the seat off the Tories – and Cllr Begum would be a strong contender to take on the role. As well as the Labour Party, she is also a member of the GMB trade union.

In her Maida Vale ward, Cllr Begum and her fellow councillors have been doing a great deal to support residents with their everyday problems, great and small. On the one hand they are supporting residents whose private landlord is trying to build extra flats on top of their block. On the other, they are supporting residents of Tollgate Gardens who have seen their estate demolished and rebuild – and are not yet happy with the results.

Labour’s team in Maida Vale is also working to improve schools and to protect, and use, open spaces in the ward. Cllr Begum herself has chalked up victories in moving towards a 20mph speed limit and securing a local Cycle Hire station. She also persuaded the Council to upgrade toilets and baby-changing facilities in Paddington Rec – a local park she uses herself and is keen to attract other residents to.

Now Cllr Begum has taken the first step to taking her campaigning talent onto the London stage. We have less than a year to find out whether she can be successful.

•Elections to the GLA will take place in May next year. The Labour Party is going through a process of choosing candidates to stand in the elections for the GLA seats which are not Labour-held at the moment. The Party will also be choosing candidates to appear on their top-up list – who will take any extra places allocated to Labour under the proportional representation system.

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