Lynne's Parliament and Haringey diary

I am the guest speaker at our own local Liberal Democrat 'Pizza and Politics.' We have a guest speaker, policy debate and pizza and wine at Laura Edge's flat for a fiver to cover costs. It's a good evening and we always have a lively debate. Not unnaturally I am speaking on Transport - and could have been there all night. I have yet to find a single person in London who does not have strong views on transport and a desire to discuss them with me!

What is good about these evenings is they are no holds barred, no political correctness and we have a jolly good ding dong - not necessarily on party lines. It also comes as a welcome relief to most of local political activism - which tends to be about raising funds and delivering leaflets!

Spent portion of day delivering bundles of leaflets to people who had volunteered to deliver them in their street. The leaflet is about the Muswell Hill to Swiss Cottage bus (603) trial which is drawing to an end and Transport for London will take note of how many representations are made to their Customer Service department. I know - and everyone in Muswell Hill knows - how much we all want a full service - so hopefully TfL will be inundated. Lord knows - they need to be as they and Ken will do everything they can to avoid having to fund a full service. I will campaign until they deliver - which may be for all eternity.

Labels: 603 bus, tfl

Struck down with mother of all colds - how????? It's summer.

Off to Hillfield Park street party - organised each year by local resident Peter Thompson. Peter is a local hero in my view and does tremendous good work in the community including free legal advice to those who need it, Neighbourhood Watch stuff and this street party.

I am presenting a tribute to the ex-beat officer from Muswell Hill, Bob Stevenson - who although he has moved on after his years in this area - has come back for the afternoon.

Prior to that, Peter has asked if I can come a bit earlier to judge the best pet (non-canine) contest. Sadly - there is only one competitor - so although after strenuous efforts they drum up a few more - there wasn't a need for my Solomon act.

Scoot over to the New River Sports Centre for Peter Norton's leaving party. He is the Director of Environmental Services and I have been dealing with him on masses of issues locally ever since I was elected to the council in '98. Very sad to see him go - a very genuine person and solid as a rock in often very stormy waters. I wish him well.

Stakeholders meeting for the 603 bus route. TfL are going to be reviewing the route's success and viability and possible expansion to a full service in the summer. I have a slight dispute with them in that the email I had received from Peter Hendy (TfL supremo on this) implies that the review will be ongoing until August/September and on that basis I am encouraging people to send in views to Customer Services at TfL of which Peter has said they will take notice as it is a criteria for judging the success etc of the route. The officer at the meeting wants them in now. I manage to persuade him to give us an extra three weeks - not enough - but better than nothing.

There is still a great deal of disagreement about how TfL assess the viability of the route and expansion proposals which I won't bore you with. They are wrong and the campaigners and me are right! We all know how much a full service is needed and what it will enable people to do without a car. They argue it's no more or less needed than any other route that local people want anywhere in London. The campaign goes on!

Labels: 603 bus, peter hendy

Along with everyone else - watch the England match. Excruciating experience - as always. We didn't play well - but we was robbed! I like ASDA's marketing ploy the next day to offer free eye tests to any Swiss Nationals who present their passport at their stores. In fact, for any Swiss referees, they are not only offering an eye test - but offering to throw in free specs!

Dash straight over to the first meeting of the new term for the Fire Authority. Deadly dull - and all as expected - which is probably very good news for London. The one issue that could cause ructions was taken outside the meeting - and that is the staffing of the new anti-contamination units to combat any disasters that may befall London.

The first Mayor's Question Time of this term of office. Ken, much to my surprise, is quite jovial. I had heard tales of bad temper and particularly with the Lib Dems. He appeared to have developed a deep antipathy towards Simon Hughes during the campaign. However, he was more angry with the tube unions. I guess 'cos they wouldn't do his bidding for once. Being supported by the unions, now the election was out the way, they were/are still planning to strike next Tuesday/Wednesday. Ken says the deal on the table to them is fabulous and they can have no reason to go ahead with the strike and if they do, he could understand crossing the picket line. He comes under attack for having Bob Crow on the board of TfL.

Nothing else of huge interest. We all have our usual bash about the West London Tram, his spending problems, his lack of meetings (none) with the Chancellor re making the case for London and so on.

Most interesting thing is Labour members absolute cessation of scrutiny. All they do now is put forward sycophantic questions or comments - all critical faculty has clearly evaporated in the coming of a Labour Mayor!

Labels: simon hughes

Log on to my home email to discover Simon Hughes is going to go for Party President as well as Lembit. I am not sure that Lembit didn't know this was on the cards. He had said that there were no other contenders as far as he knew. Simon had a message into me - and I phone him back to tell him that Lembit had asked me and in lieu of there being any other contenders - I had agreed to nominate him. 'Frustrating' - was how Simon expressed it!

Labels: simon hughes

Race home from the CRE to my house to find 80+ people enjoying a drink and a natter. These are just some of the people who helped locally in my election back to the London Assembly. It is fantastic and unbelievable to see such a throng. Not that long ago when we started our mission in Haringey we were literally just three men and a dog (obviously gender inaccurate). This is a real sign of how far we have come - which is just as well as we have far to go - parliamentary wise and council wise. We can do it - we just need lots of help.

Have a good night talking to everyone, speeches and congrats all round. I throw everyone out by 9pm and go off to have something to eat with my two best women friends who support me through thick and thin. They have both joined the Lib Dems long ago - I think when they realised that the only way to see me given my schedule was to join in. This isn't a matter of political belief - this is a matter of friendship - and I really love that they will come and work on pollings days. I love them to bits.

Having just been nominated and elected to the London Advisory Board of the Commission for Racial Equality (last Friday) I have found that the very first meeting is today. Slightly bad timing from my point of view as my Thank You party for helpers during the election begins at 6.30pm in my house - and now I won't be there until 7.30pm. But duty calls.

Am delighted to have got this position because it fits so well with my work on Stop & Search and other issues I have been involved in over recent years.

This first meeting contains a couple of presentations - one on the Governement's proposals to combine job centres with benefits offices - ie rationalise and streamline their system - the other on the Government's White Paper on creating a single equalities commission called the Commission for Equalities and Human Rights combining the existing Equal Ops, Racial Equality and Disabled Commission.

In the first instance, I think that the 'rationalisation' will probably lead to less services for the public and see it more as a money-saving proposal that will result in both job losses and jobs leaving London. This will impact on ethnic employees - but the presenters are in train of doing an impact assessment on this - so we will wait for that.

In the second case, although Lib Dems support the principle of a Single Equalities Commission - given the Government appear to have no intention of bringing forward legislation for a Single Equality Act - I think its a case of putting cart before horse for financial and political reasons. I also think there is a real danger that the three commissions will lose identity and force if merged - particularly without the resources and powers to accompany such a merger.

Pop into Portcullis house to sign Lembit Opik's nomination form as he has asked me so to do in his quest to become the next President of the Lib Dem party.

War appears to have broken out in Alexandra ward in Haringey about the money I secured from Transport for London (£100,000) which is to be spent mitigating the rat-running following their implementation of traffic lights on Colney Hatch Lane which coincided with a disastrous decision by the local Labour Council to close off Grosvenor Road. Residents have spent two years agreeing two options to go forward to an agreed area for consultation. One of the options closes further roads - the other is for general traffic calming but no closures. Some local residents have organised a public meeting to raise the ante on this.

There was a lot of heated temper in the room where three hundred had gathered - traffic measures always have a high attendance. I am not personally in favour of road closures - particularly when they are sticking plaster rather than holistic solutions - and the feeling of the room was for Option 1 - the calming. However, the organisers were
encouraging residents to vote against both - which although fine in principal - may result in the anti closure vote being split. That is also an option - which will send Haringey back to the drawing board - which is fine unless TfL withdraw the money as it has been on the table for nearly three years now.

I think the residents should now be left alone to vote as they see fit on the options on offer. The options are a long way from perfect, but there are two real problems. Firstly, Haringey Labour have refused to put any money into the project, only the TfL money is on the table and it isn't enough to do a really good job. Secondly, there are just too many cars, used too often and going too fast - which is why I spend so much of my time campaigning for better public transport - it's the only way we will ever get people out of their cars. If they haven't got a viable alternative - they have no other choice.

Labels: tfl

Went to meet two representatives of the Kurdish communities at the Nation Congress of Kurdistan. Really enjoyed meeting them and learning more about the desires of Kurds for recognition of their national status. Have agreed to help in any way they would find useful for the future.

Meeting with my new Vice-Chair of Transport Committee, Roger Evans. I think he will be more helpful as my Vice-Chair than his predecessor who never turned up to a 'Chair's Planning Meeting' except once last year - to make trouble. We discuss some priorities for the Committee for the year - obvious ones like PPP not working (understatement!), Congestion Charging and holding Transport for London to account. I have my own list of other scrutinies I want to do - but will also seek suggestions from all of the committee members and the public. Good ideas are always welcome.

Labels: tfl

Meeting with Haringey's police commander, Steven Bloomfield. Lots on the menu to discuss. First and foremost - the re-opening of Muswell Hill police station front counter. At last, the Volunteer Coordinator is employed and getting feet under the table. I have written to her to suggest we meet up as I have a lot more people who have volunteered since the original ones I collected over a year ago and of whom, many filled in the Met application form (not easy - Met forms are a nightmare and enough to put off any but the keenest at the first hurdle). Sir John Stevens (Met Police Commissioner who has expressed a desire to open the front counter with me as soon as possible) and I am anxious to comply. Yes, Sir! Hopefully, it will open in July - or thereabouts.

Then we discuss the police kiosk in Wood Green. Given the constant refusal to reopen Highgate police station, I have been nagging for some permanent base for police here - to no avail. A kiosk might be the answer. Steven says that the main problem is because it only opens certain hours, people complain that it is always closed. He says they never write in to say how wonderful it is - when it is open. Of course, there is an answer - open it longer hours. That battle goes on.

We have our usual skirmish over my work and any adverse publicity it has brought to his door. Recently, my work on unreported crime which was based on a crime survey distributed to every household in Hornsey & Wood Green found that out of 1119 people who had been a victim of or witness to a crime 421 did not report it. I presented this at the last full meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority and it found support from Sir John Stevens amongst others. The work will now continue to make this a performance indicator for the Met. However, Steven was cross because although it was bad - it was better than the year before and coincided timewise with an improvement in crime detection in Haringey. Well - we all have our jobs to do - and mine is to improve matters where people tell me they need improving. Police resources are targetted where crime is reported - which would explain why it is important for people to feel that it is worthwhile to report crime, however minor, to the police. The vast majority of people who did not report a crime did not do so because they either thought the police would do nothing (often true) or they couldn't get through to their local police station!

We then meandered over my work on Stop & Search and a variety of individual cases that obviously, I am not going to discuss here. I like Steven and I think the police in Haringey do a really good job over all - but there are still huge unmet needs across the borough - so no doubt our future meetings will continue to be interesting.

Labels: crime, muswell hill police station

Wander into Pond Square in Highgate Village for the summer street festival. Music, stalls and a small fun fair. Bump into lots of local luminaries and residents. It is so picturesque - so quintessentially English. Buy a booklet from the Hornsey Historical society on walks in Highgate. Given that I stomp around the area delivering leaflets on such a regular basis - will be nice to know a bit more about the buildings I pass by.

First meeting of the London Assembly. This meeting is by law required to take place within 10 days of the election. It is really a matter of formalities. We have now signed an agreement with the Tories which states clearly that there is no policy agreement - but which delivers the Chairs of 4 of the key committees between us. They will chair the Assembly and the Budget Committee in the first year and we will chair Business Managers and Transport Committee in the fist year.

Lots of concern that we have linked with the Tories - but it is a matter of power broking and keeping faith with London. As uncomfortable as it is to have any agreement with the Tories as we are diametrically opposed on most policy issues - it is important for London and holding the Mayor to account not to have a Labour member in these posts.

Can you imagine a Labour chair examining a Labour Mayor on his budget? How testing for him that would be - not!

All the other subject committees will be decided, hopefully consensually, by the now five party groups and will be sorted out over the next week.

I am extremely happy as I am elected Chair of Transport again - and retain my place on the Metropolitan Police Authority. I love both my portfolios - transport and policing and am keen to continue the work I have been doing to date.

One real addition to my role is that I am nominated and elected to the London board of the Commission for Racial Equality - which will tie in very well with my police work on race issues such as Stop and Search.

Really looking forward to the year ahead.

Group meeting of us Lib Dems to establish what has been offered so far in negotiations. Both Tories and Labour are offering us Chair and Vice Chair turnabout for the Assembly, Budget Committee, Business Managers and Transport Committee. We try and include the Greens - but they appear to be taking the Mayour's shilling. Not unnaturally, the Mayor wants them stitched up for the budget - for without their votes he won't be able to simply get his budget through. Hope they don't sell out London for
patronage.

First day back at proper work. The negotiations continue over the future workings of the GLA.

My first concern today was to expose a really scandalous letter from Met Police to black men who refused to give voluntary DNA samples in a suspect trawl in South London. The Met are trying to catch a serial rapist - a very serious criminal - and they have been able through his DNA samples to trace his ancestry. They are therefore asking the community to come forward for voluntary DNA testing to eliminate them from the inquiry.

However, you can imagine the sensitivities around this process. In an opportunity for the community and police to work together to find this criminal - it looks like the police have not been handling it too well. I am making enquiries as I write.

Later go to a meeting regarding the Highgate Tube works where residents are concerned over the finishes to the work - fencing, crash barrier and planting. This is the second of two meetings that I originally had to bang heads together so that Highgate didn't end up looking like Colditz with terrible finishes following remedial work to stop the Archway Road falling into the station embankments.

Amazingly, after some discussion, agreement was reached on all the issues and everyone went home happy Amazing and so pleasant!

Decide I want a drink in my local in Highgate Village. Haven't been out for a casual drink for months virtually - and wander in to find all the 'usuals' in there. Have a bit of a chin wag and enjoy the summer evening, or what's left of it, with a very welcome gin and tonic!

Labels: dna

All the party groups head into City Hall for their own group meetings and then the 'negotiations'. The arithmetic has delivered the unsurprising fact that only the LibDems and the Tories combined have a majority and all the 'positions' on the Assembly are decided by simple majority. The further arithmetic conunundrum for the Mayor is that he needs 9 votes in support of his budget to get it through. There are only 7 Labour members in their now reduced state - so undoubtedly they will be trying to buy the Greens' two votes.

We have our group meeting, set our objectives, elect our leader - all say what we want out of the next term, etc.

Then, of course, both Labour and Tories want to come and talk to us and be our best friend. I am on the negotiating team with Graham Tope so for the first time witness how it goes. Jolly interesting. We are at the listening to what the others offer us stage at the moment - and as I write that remains the case.

I don't go to the Ally Pally count - but head off to City Hall. The campaign team are using our offices (as are all the groups) as the nerve centre of the day to receive all the counts, results and to put together the lines and the data so we can see how it's going.

My sister joins me for the day at City Hall. I don't have a partner or parents - and she is a good person to have around on such a day!

It's all good. Nothing much until the afternoon when the GLA constituency counts begin to come in. In our two key targets we have made significant advances - and on the list vote - and we get our ambition of an extra LibDem member taking us from 4 to 5.

Icing on our cake is Labour's decline from 9 to 7 members and the Greens from 3 to 2.

Obviously, the arrival of 2 UKIP members is a bit of a new scenario - and has clearly affected the votes of the other parties - but that's democracy.

Toby Harris, the Labour leader, loses his seat as does the Tory leader Eric Ollerenshaw and the Tories failed to gain the Enfield & Haringey seat which they had been very cocky about.

As for the Mayoral contest - Ken is back. Simon fought a fantastic campaign - but it just didn't take off in terms of votes. What a pity.

So the new term will begin with a completely different dynamic and tomorrow we will begin to look at how the land lies. I don't think London would want us to sell our soul to the Mayor by being bought off. I think London would want us LibDems to stand full square in holding him to account - but all that is for tomorrow and next week.

Election day dawns and I am up with the lark to deliver some early leaflets. It is such a beautiful day and time of day. I rush back home to change into something more suitable for knocking on doors the rest of the day and then onto a polling station in Campsbourne School. Great atmosphere, everyone very friendly and cheery.

Then out knocking on doors to see if our supporters are going out to vote, more leaflets, more polling stations, more everything with a final push, helped by one of our Euro candidates - John Stevens - to do some final knocking up in Muswell Hill which is my own ward and where I always like to finish my day.

I let out a great cheer at 10pm - it's been a long, tough campaign - and I am super-glad that the work is over. I go home to watch the local elections coverage from the rest of the country. It is great to see Peter Snow again - this is the first time in ages I have not had to be at a count the night of an election and been able to watch on TV.

Sadly, whilst I have the opportunity and our results including taking Newcastle are absolutely brilliant, after only an hour or so, my 4am start catches up with me and I drift off to sleep.

Thank goodness only one more day. Five to six hours of delivering leaflets a day is beginning to take its toll. On the other hand, I have a fabby tan and toned muscles. I do always regard elections as a get fit opportunity - a counterweight to the meetings I sit in for most of the time.

The BBC telephone me and want to come and film me to go out on the news. Now, I am dressed somewhat informally in shorts and T-shirt - but decide as this is meant to be politic real, I will stay thus dressed and be seen 'au natural'. I telephone Wayne Hoban, the LibDem GLA Enfield and Haringey candidate to join me as they want someone else on the knock as well.

Happily, he too is dressed in shorts. And we knock on doors. No preparation - no set up - but wonderful happenstance. The first door was an elderly Asian man who was voting LibDem. The next - there was a crisis with a baby, then a few 'outs' and then, the piece de resistance, a young bloke who had always voted Labour but this time, for the first time, was voting Lib Dem. And he gave the reasons: Iraq, top-up fees, loss of trust - the list is becoming endless.

I was pleased, because I had told the camera crew that this was what was happening on swathes of doorsteps - and here was a real life example of what I had said was the case being demonstrated in fact to be the case. Hurrah!

PS Several comments to me on my legs following broadcast of campaigning Lynne on doorstep - in my old feminist days I would have been insulted - with advancing years I am just grateful!

Labels: wayne hoban

Charles Kennedy and Simon Hughes meet me at Wood Green Shopping City for a walk about.

Lots of LibDems gathered to meet the party leader and the media of course. We walk through the market halls to real excitement from local shoppers. I guess it is a bit of a surprise to see Charles Kennedy wandering around. But it was a really good feeling and everyone just seemed to be supporting the LibDems!

Then we all buzz off to one of the Abbeyfield care homes for a visit. Really impressed with level of care and lovely environment. Abbeyfield has a great reputation and deserves it. Not sure what the residents made of all of this - and we carefully reduced our numbers actually going in down to three so as not to create too much disturbance.

Had lots of fun talking to those residents who were able to converse - and had a really good laugh with a couple of the ladies there.

Then we departed - and it was back to the more humdrum election occupation of delivering leaflets and stuffing envelopes.

Labels: charles kennedy, simon hughes

Press conference with Charles Kennedy, Simon Hughes and Chris Rennard (campaign guru and mastermind of LibDem successes) at Lib Dem HQ.

We all walk in and sit - lots of journos and a couple of TV stations in attendance.

Charles kicks off with a stirring piece about our chances of success (good). He takes the national angle.

Then Simon speaks about what he will do for London and then I have a go at Ken Livingstone.

He has his own agenda - not really London's. And he will spend on his pet projects, areas and his own publicity. If you cross him, he is vitriolic and vengeful. Given the piece the Guardian G2 ran quoting me on Ken's nastier aspects - I hope and pray
Simon wins - or Ken will be out to get me. Nasty business - hey?

Then Chris Rennard does the real business of the day - revealing the new polling showing that Simon is really closing on Norris and that if he pulls that off - the second preferences that come his way once Norris is out the race put him within 1% of beating Ken - too close to call.

Really exciting now!

Labels: charles kennedy, ken livingstone, simon hughes