Merry Christmas and a Peaceful and Happy New Year
With the festive season about to start, we wanted to send all our GMB London Region MPs, AMs, local councillors, candidates and activists and followers a short message of thanks for all you have done for your constituents and communities over the past year.
With the festive season about to start, we wanted to send all our GMB London Region MPs, AMs, local councillors, candidates and activists and followers a short message of thanks for all you have done for your constituents and communities over the past year.
The past twelve months have been extremely difficult but despite the restrictions caused by the pandemic some semblance of normal political activity resumed in May when we experienced a bumper (two years in one) set of elections right across the region, from Peterborough to London and Ipswich to Bedford Labour has some notable successes. Sadiq Khan was re-elected as Mayor of London and Labour remain the biggest party in the London Assembly, where the Mayor together with the majority of Labour AMs are GMB members. In Cambridge and Peterborough Labour won the Mayoralty of the joint administration for the first time and in Cambridge County Council the Tories were replaced with a Liberal/Labour coalition and the Labour/Liberal coalition retained control in North Hertfordshire.
IN June Natasa Pantlic a GMB member stood in the Chesham and Amersham parliamentary by-election where the Tories lost the seat to the Liberal Democrats but where the Labour vote was squeezed.
On the wider political front the GMB were supported by a number of Labour politicians throughout the year, including the campaign to stop fire and re-hire in British Gas, the campaign for support for the aviation industry through the pandemic, the campaign for public sector pay rises in the NHS, local government and schools and more recently securing the future of the North London Waste plant in Edmonton.
But the past 12 months has seen this callous government create uncertainty and confusion for millions of people across the UK whilst at the same time, treating them with utter contempt. Whilst millions of people were lawfully abiding by the strict and necessary covid restrictions last Christmas, causing millions of families to be apart and often alone, Government officials were laughing at us all and partying in Downing St!
The impact of Covid-19 on our communities and on our members' lives will undoubtedly continue and for those members and their families who have been directly impacted or suffered personal loss, this Government should hang their heads in shame.
As we enter the 2022 our efforts must be re-doubled to kick the Tories out and the first step on that path will be the local elections in May 2022, where every seat in every London Borough will be up for grabs along with local council seats across the rest of the region.
So enjoy the festivities and the break but let’s ensure we come back refreshed in the New Year and re-double our efforts to elect Labour administrations in councils across the region and whenever it comes, a Labour Government in Westminster.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
