Kate Hoey, Labour Party Parliamentary candidate for Vauxhall
1. Housing
The lack of genuinely affordable housing in Lambeth is something I deal with every day. From those on the waiting list (many of whom who will wait years to get an offer) to the many overcrowded families living in inadequate accommodation, the fact is clear that more housing is needed. Labour is committed to building over a million new homes. By the end of the next Parliament we will be building at least 100,000 council and housing association homes a year for genuinely affordable rent or sale.
We are also committed to scrapping the bedroom tax, suspending Right to Buy to protect affordable homes for local people and ending insecurity for private renters.
Throughout my time as your local MP I have worked closely with our many Tenants & Residents Associations to deal with problems and issues relating to their landlords, whether they be Lambeth Council or Housing Associations. Most recently I won an Adjournment Debate in Parliament where I was able to publicise Hyde Housing’s appalling record on repairs and service charges as well as highlight our local campaigns against their decision to get rid of their Community Centres at Oval and Stockwell.
I have opposed and will continue to oppose the widespread demolition of housing estates with communities being displaced and the rebuilt homes not all for rent at social rent levels! I want to see the definition of affordable homes dramatically changed and enforced. As your MP I will continue to challenge the property developers and vested interests who are destroying our riverside cityscape, as I recently challenged those attempting to impose the folly of a Garden Bridge on us.
2. Environment
Too much of London’s air is so polluted it is toxic. Our air is estimated to prematurely kill nearly 10,000 Londoners every year. This is wholly unacceptable. I have been pleased to work with local schools and children to get all political parties to sign a pledge to really tackle this.
I have campaigned against additional air traffic over our heads with the resulting pollution, and have regularly lobbied Ministers to take firmer action on our air standards. I know that Sadiq Khan takes this seriously and hope that together we can make real improvements to ensure that we have a healthy environment.
3. Brexit
I know that the EU referendum upset many people. I know that the result left some feeling anxious and depressed. Whilst we must respect the decision of the UK as a whole to leave the EU, I also respect and care deeply about the views and votes of the many thousands of people in Vauxhall who wanted to remain. In particular, I entirely appreciate the worries of EU citizens who live, work and contribute here – I am one hundred per cent clear that they must not lose their rights.
Before the Prime Minister triggered Article 50 to begin the Brexit process, I tabled a motion in Parliament to ensure the rights of EU nationals. I wanted this resolved by now to give people the reassurance that they deserve. I believed then and continue to believe that this should be the priority, and that if necessary we should grant those rights unilaterally as a sign of good faith. People should not be used as bargaining chips.
The Labour Party manifesto makes precisely that promise, and I wholly welcome it. I endorse the Labour plan to put jobs and the economy first and unite the country around a Brexit deal that works for every community in the United Kingdom.
4. Local business
I absolutely back our local businesses in Vauxhall, and over the years have championed and supported them – we have some brilliant local high streets and businesses that add so much to our community.
Labour promises to reinstate the lower small-business corporation tax rate and introduce a package of reforms to business rates – including switching from RPI to CPI indexation, exempting new investment in plant and machinery from valuations, and ensuring that businesses have access to a proper appeals process – while reviewing the entire business rates system in the longer run to support small firms.
5. Education
Our schools have made incredible strides since I was elected in 1989, and we can be proud of the high standards that they maintain. We are fortunate to have first class teachers and inspirational Heads who act as true leaders and look to put educational quality first.
I do worry about the cuts that the Conservatives plan, with Lambeth schools due to lose over £550 per pupil in 2018/19. Labour would reverse these cuts and ensure proper funding.
I have opposed tuition fees and voted against their creation and each subsequent increase. I am delighted that Labour is pledged to abolish them. We won’t break our promise unlike the Lib Dems.
You can see the full list of questions here
Make no mistake the only reason I am voting for Kate Hoey is because I will be voting Labour. I wish it hadn’t been a snap election and there could have been a proper selection process. It isn’t just about Brexit.
I get that it was a personal vote what I don’t understand and will never find acceptable is working so very closely with Farrage especially given the diverse population she serves. But it isn’t even just that, no I don’t like the fact that she would vote to bring back foxhunting. But most of all what I really really didn’t like is when asking for help from my elected representative with the appalling way my DLA was removed and a PIP claim that took over 40 weeks her initial response was no response and then when I contacted her again pointing out that it was a matter of urgency she forgot to untag me in her email messages and reading an email that says….’can you get in touch with this constituent….if you can bear it’, is not something you expect to read about yourself and not from such a supposedly good constituency MP.
I had always heard what a great constituency MP she was and then I realised yes she is if she thinks she can get any publicity out of it otherwise she’s is just another patronising politico who thinks she has right to represent as is her given right…. she should have done the decent thing and stepped down for this election.
So yes I will be voting tomorrow not for Kate Hoey but for the Labour party that Jeremy Corbyn represents.
Well, just remember when you vote for Kate that you are approving someone who supports the expansion of grammar schools with greater selection in schools. That, for me, tops Brexit and fox hunting and all the other indulgent nonsense. She has been a good constituency MP but what is the point of supporting a Labour MP who directly opposes Labour values.
Sometimes we have to do distasteful things for the greater good and this is one of those times.
Obviously if there weren’t so much riding on this election I would have done the same as 2015 and spoiled my ballot paper putting a line through all the candidates and wrote none of the above.
Coming from a mining family and a decimated town that has never recovered from the pit closures I would rather stick pins in my eyes than vote Tory.
As for the Fib Dems well what can you say and little Timmy and crew, his voting record shows what sort of man he is and the party well I will never EVER forgive their part in condemning disabled people to living in terror that has resulted in many many thousands of deaths and not one but two UN investigations finding gross and systematic abuses against disabled people rights, not ever.
Especially when they haven’t apologised, have sought to make excuses for themselves with the standard line of ‘difficult decisions as though this somehow excuses killing more UK citizens than any ‘Islamic’ terrorist and acts like it had nothing to do with them at all not even slightly.
The Greens I like but quite a lot of their policies I just don’t agree with. So yeah back to voting for a woman I dislike intensely, who from personal experience is not a ‘good constituency MP’ for a party that has the right policies and won’t bring back fox hunting or grammar schools because it is a party for the many not the few.
Labour is indeed the party of the many, not the few. But Kate’s approach is to be an MP for the few not the many. I’m a lifelong Labour voter (and party member) but I shall be voting Lib Dem in Vauxhall. Its time to confront her with the implications or her views and stop her being a Labour MP (she’s welcome to stand as an Independent in my view). A Lib Dem MP in Vauxhall would be a more active force against the Tories than Ms Hoey. Something I’m very sad to have to admit.
A Lib Dem MP in Vauxhall would be a more active force against the Tories than Ms Hoey. Something I’m very sad to have to admit.
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