PREM GOYAL, left, the ex-donor to the Labour party in south London and now the founder of the All People’s Party, responds to yesterday’s column from James Gill
James is entitled to his opinion. We all pursue different initiatives from time to time based on our experiences.
Labour should not be focusing on me, but on the issues that Southwark residents tell us are hurting them every day: why do we have inequality at the top in Southwark, given that there is only one minority politician at the top in Southwark out of 13, 12 of whom are with Labour.
During my PPC campaign, speaking to Labour members and non-members, I painfully learned that Labour both creates and supports inequality at the top in Southwark. Labour is the problem in our diverse Southwark and is putting in danger Southwark’s promising future and that of its diverse residents.
It is absolutely unacceptable to me that the 45 per cent talented minority population in Southwark, which generates 70 per cent of the Labour votes, get only 10 per cent representation at the top decision-making table. In exchange rate terms, for every £1 these hard-working, talented people contribute to Labour, they are only given 13p back. This is exploitation. And so we need a solution now because Labour have told me they will not change.
The All People’s Party is for all people and wants to eradicate inequality at the top in Southwark and beyond. Equally important, APP wants to provide leadership opportunities to community champions now, not in 2050.
APP is not about me. APP is about community champions like Donald, Tess, Juliet and Fola who want to represent and lead their community but are not given a chance by Labour despite their endless campaigning and efforts for the party. More significantly, APP is about TRA chairs, entrepreneurs and residents like Denis, Anthony and Amanda who simply want to build a stronger and more cohesive community for their neighbours. These are people who are not members of political parties but are community champions who deserve a chance now to fulfill their dreams of building a brighter future for their community, their children and their grandchildren. APP is giving them this opportunity now.
Together, we want to change the landscape of politics by introducing more competition, transparency and accountability. We want to stop our current politicians playing political football with our communities, and instead put residents first. We want to give a voice to the voiceless minority and ensure they are represented at the top.
The Labour party should stop fearing this new political party and simply start embracing the change by welcoming it since we all agree on one thing: we want to build a fairer future in Southwark and beyond.
Coming to Croydon
- Lakes Playground group’s fundraising Zumba-ween: Oct 26
- PJ’s enterprising look at Black History Month: Oct 29
- The Railway Children: Oct 30-Nov 2
- St Giles School open morning: Nov 13
- Secret Love at the Ashcroft Theatre: Nov 14
- Future Tech City: Nov 30
- Inside Croydon: Croydon’s only independent news source, based in the heart of the borough – 262,183 page views (Jan-Jun 2013)
- Post your comments on this article below.
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, a residents’ or business association or local event, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
When in a hole, stop digging, Mr Goyal. Ordinary folk don’t vote for divided political parties.
I am quite stunned that Prem has chosen racism as his preferred complaint for not being chosen.
If I remember correctly there were 5 candidates. 4 white British and 1 BAME. I didn’t vote for Prem and as such I’m a little insulted that he seems to be accusing me of being racist. Had I closed my eyes and stuck a pin in the ballot paper there would still only be a 20% chance of voting for Prem, so it is to his credit that he came so close.
In a similar situation to Prem, Stephanie Cryan was the only female candidate. Having not been chosen, Stephanie took a different tack to Prem and instead of shouting “sexist, old boys club etc” she, to her credit, chose to work towards election to the council for the good of the Labour Party and the residents Bermondsey and Rotherhithe.
I don’t know much about the stats but I have heard that many successful MPs have taken multiple attempts before being selected. It’s a shame that Prem was in such a hurry that he thought jumping ship and blaming others for his failure was reasonable.