The Labour party in Tameside, Greater Manchester, has been accused by opponents of introducing fake ‘independent’ candidates in this month’s local elections.

The veracity of these single-source claims could not be confirmed at the time of writing. However, if proven to be true, the scheme seems intent on splitting the vote of former Labour supporters. They left the party in protest of Starmer’s backing of Israel, perceived disregard of human rights, and its war on people in poverty.

Splitting the vote

The scheme, as reported by the Manchester Mill, is said to have been cooked up by a local Labour councillor. They reported that he had confided in whistleblower Philip Wilson-Marks at a boozy party hosted by Labour MP Angela Rayner. Moreover, the councillor had raised the idea before, Wilson-Marks said:

This idea remained important to Vimal. It was central to his tactics.

With less than a week to go until the elections, Labour is accused of putting the alleged scheme into practice, with one white and one Asian Muslim ‘Trojan horse’ — Marie Fairhurst and Muhammad Ali.

three other councillors have come out in supported of these allegations, as named by the Manchester Mill:

• Liam Billington, Tory councillor
• Kaleel Khan, independent councillor
• Ahmed Mahmood, independent candidate

The accusers say that Labour is trying to benefit its own candidate, Atta Ul-Rasool, a Rayner protégé. If true, such behaviour, according to guidelines published by the Electoral Commission, constitutes a serious case of electoral fraud — a criminal offense. According to local publication manchestermill:

It’s difficult to find any information about either of them. Neither has an online presence, and no one I speak to in the ward has seen them engaging in typical campaign activity, such as handing out flyers, door-knocking or putting up posters. There have been no social media posts or press engagements since their names were announced on April 10th. Neither appear to be active members of the community — nor does Fairhurst seem to live in it.

…a constituent could reasonably assume that Fairhurst and Ali are just two local people throwing their hats into the ring, trying to improve one of Tameside’s most hardened wards.

But politics in St Peter’s is widely viewed through two lenses: The war in Gaza, and Tameside Labour’s recent scandals (among them, Angela Rayner’s resignation as Deputy PM, and the ‘Trigger me Timbers’ WhatsApp group). Both look unkindly on Labour, the borough’s governing party.

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If they even exist, do they even know their names are on election papers?

Old trick, new names

The invention of fictitious candidates to split votes is an old trick.

In the 2024 general election, ‘Reform UK’ fielded a number of ‘ghost’ candidates that divided the Tory vote in seats that Labour consequently won.

No one has been prosecuted and the exact number of ‘ghosts’ is unclear. However, Starmer’s 2024 majority was 86 seats. Reform came second in 89 seats won by Labour. This enabled Starmer to ‘win’ a ‘landslide’. Yet he received considerably fewer votes than Corbyn achieved in either 2017 or the ‘disaster’ 2019 general election.

The truth of the allegations may take a police investigation to establish. But the St Peter’s ward has five candidates on the ballot paper for the May 2026 general elections. Three of them are ‘independents’ when only one of them may actually be independent.

Labour’s desperation in the face of the Polanski Green surge has already seen party bosses and their allies mount smear campaigns. They aim to nobble or remove Green candidates that threaten its hold. If the allegations are true, the Starmer regime is also targeting independents. It may not just be in Tameside.

Featured image via the Manchester Mill

By Skwawkbox

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The post Golders Green: how Jews are being terrorised appeared first on spiked.

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Take Back Power supporters have been occupying the playgrounds of the wealthy again on the morning of 1 May. And they’ve ‘liberated’ items from a superstore to redistribute them back to the communities that need them. Take Back Power is a nonviolent campaign, demanding a tax on extreme wealth, to be decided by a ‘House of the People’.

At around 9am, three Take Back Power supporters entered the Tesco Extra on Acre Lane in Brixton, took essential items from the shelves and left without paying. The action takers then donated the items at a local food-bank drop-off point. At around 10am, all three attempted to hand themselves in at Brixton Police Station. So far none have been arrested.

Take Back Power carried out a similar action in four UK cities in March.

At 11.45am, a further 18 Take Back Power supporters occupied the luxury department store Liberty, on Regent Street in London. They could held signs which read ‘3 MILLION HOUSEHOLDS SKIPPING MEALS’ and ‘TAX THE SUPER-RICH NOW.’

At around 1pm, this group then reconvened, disrupting access to the luxury hotel Claridges. The group chanted “WE DEMAND EQUALITY!’ and ‘HOW DO WE TAX THE SUPER RICH? – A HOUSE OF THE PEOPLE!’ as security attempted to move the supporters away from the door.

A Take Back Power spokesperson said:

Take Back Power is calling for an emergency ‘House of the People’ to deal with the cost of living crisis. When politicians are too busy lining their pockets to fix our problems, we need the people most impacted to have a seat at the table.

A House of the People selected by democratic lottery, like a jury, is a no-brainer solution to cut out the corruption and decide how to redistribute wealth.

Take Back Power supporters explain the action

One of those taking action redistributing food today, Moshe Dixon, 25, from Dundee, said:

My mother came from poverty and fought tooth and nail to give me a better future. Like so many mothers she was promised that hard work would be rewarded, yet we are living in a country where so many families can’t make ends meet despite working multiple jobs.

6.5 million people had to turn to foodbanks in 2024. Meanwhile the CEO of Tesco is taking home 430 times the pay of the average Tesco employee, and the rich are paying a smaller share of tax than working people.

Also taking action today, occupying high-end stores and hotels, was Hannah McDonald, 20, a student from Liverpool, who said:

14 million people last year were faced with the prospect of going hungry, in this, the sixth richest nation on earth! Now we have a cost of living tsunami on the way and the government is nowhere to be seen.

This is broken Britain. We need a House of the People – an assembly with real power, where ordinary mums, nurses, posties & cleaners, get a real say in how to take back our power from the super rich, and redistribute that wealth and power back to working people.

The actions come as the UK braces for food shortages and soaring prices as a result of Trump and Netanyahu’s war on Iran. Rising fuel, fertiliser and commodity prices are beginning to feed into business costs.

Take Back Power says it’s time to take on the super-rich who are profiteering from a world in crisis. This is why it’s demanding that the UK government establishes an emergency House of the People – a citizen’s assembly chosen by democratic lottery, that has the power to tax extreme wealth and fix the UK.

Until the government makes a meaningful statement in response to this demand, the group says it will undertake nonviolent action to resist the super-rich, who are driving us towards social collapse. Donate or sign up to take action at TakeBackPower.net.

Featured image via Take Back Power

By The Canary

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Independents in the London borough of Ealing have been “making a breakthrough” as support for the Labour Party there is tanking. Labour currently dominates in Ealing, but Ealing Community Independents (ECI) leader, Craig Smith, told the Canary:

The number of people who are willing to admit on the doorstep that they’re voting Labour is breathtakingly low. Single percentage figures… So I know that things are going to look very different on May 8th.

Building “a credible alternative to Ealing Labour”

He compared the credentials of these independent and Labour councillors and what they stand for, saying:

None of the people that are going to be candidates for Ealing Community Independents are career politicians. None of them have been councillors before […] Essentially, all of our members are part of local residents’ associations. We have people who lead litter picking campaigns. We have people who are recognised community champions.

So they all do something as community organisers above and beyond just wanting to become councillors. Because, honestly, that’s been part of the problem with Ealing Labour Council over the years – 16 years now of councillors just doing it because they enjoy the status but they don’t want to get their hands dirty. They don’t actually want to be seen between the elections.

In waging an campaign led by independents to remove Labour’s majority on Ealing Council, he insisted that:

It’s the largest ever attempt by a new party or a grouping of independents to do this.

Their efforts to offer local voters “a credible alternative to Ealing Labour” include a key promise not to cut public services.

Labour has consistently “cut back on crucial services,” Smith lamented, with numerous children’s centres “up for the chop” last year. He stressed that independents would “reverse” that policy.

In short, ECI’s position is that, if their candidates are in charge:

you won’t see any cuts or closures or privatisations to frontline vital services [adding that] more than 20% of the working population is earning below the London Living Wage.

And to fight back against that, ECI councillors would work:

to make sure that all of the local employers are paying at least the London Living Wage to their employees

Holding housing developers to account

Smith also highlighted the need for more “affordable housing” which ECI is pushing for.

He explained why the current situation needs to end, and what ECI would do to deal with it:

As with many councils, Ealing Labour Council makes promises every year that it consistently breaks in terms of new house building and the number of affordable units that go into the developments that they’ve given planning approval to…

Essentially, planning approval is given for a major developer to throw up a block of flats. They agree to a certain ratio of affordable housing and then, almost inevitably, by the time that development is finished, they renege on the promise and say ‘it’s no longer affordable, costs have gone up, we can’t afford to do that’, and they reduce the number of units.

So literally every year, Ealing Council come back and say ‘oh, we haven’t hit our target’. And they don’t seem to be at all embarrassed about it.

So one of the things that we are sort of committing to do is to hold the developers to their initial obligation… I think the public and the developers need to know that we are serious when they make a commitment and they get an approval in the first place, that we expect affordable and social housing to go into those developments.

You can see all of ECI’s policies and positions here.

Ealing deserves better

Labour’s tanking support in Ealing is, in part, due to councillors being so disconnected from residents. As Smith asserted:

The thing that we hear most consistently is how angry they are at the lack of responsiveness from their councillors.

These independents have been making it clear to residents that unlike Labour, they put the voices of ordinary people at the heart of what they do. One key question when canvassing is whether people have heard of ECI. And though it’s a new party, Smith notes that:

Increasingly, people are saying yes. So it’s definitely working. We’re making a breakthrough.

ECI has also received the endorsement of Your Party. And it has been strategic too, having positive conversations with the local Green Party. As Smith clarified:

We agreed not to stand in three of their highest priority wards.

However, the green part, as he noted:

have pressure from above, from the central party, to field candidates, as many as possible, across all of the wards… So they are fielding candidates in our wards.

Greens have not been actively campaigning in ECI target wards, though.

Cooperative efforts between independents and Greens are entirely possible, as the Hackney campaign this year has shown. But as numerous independents around the country have told us, the national Green Party seems to be gauging where it can get significant support with minimal effort, and where it struggles — ahead of local elections.

Because of our highly problematic, anti-democratic voting system and obscenely wealthy individuals force-feeding Reform’s racist elitism — now is the time for change. To stop far-right Reform and an increasingly authoritarian Labour, Greens must work more collaboratively with independents.

Smith hopes this will happen after the local election, with parties to the left of Labour coming together to hold it to account.

Featured image via the Canary

By Ed Sykes

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Centrist Democrats are seeking to flex their messaging muscles ahead of the midterms, with a nonprofit affiliated with an influential group of House Democratic moderates set to host its inaugural policy conference later this month.

The Effective Governing Coalition is hosting the May 12 forum, billed as “Delivering an Effective Economy: A Solutions Conference,” at Washington’s Planet Word Museum. The group launched in 2024 as an offshoot of the centrist New Democratic Coalition and prioritizes economic growth, environmental sustainability, health care access and national defense.

The event, which will include new polling on cost-of-living concerns and focus on how Democratic leaders can boost affordability, comes as the center and left wings of the party have started laying out visions for an affordability agenda.

The New Democrats, the House’s largest Democratic Caucus, released a 16-page “Affordability Agenda” earlier this year, which details specific policy proposals targeting grocery, health care, housing, energy and family-related costs. The Congressional Progressive Caucus unveiled a 10-point legislative plan to lower costs earlier this week.

The forum is not the EGC’s first foray into messaging around lowering costs. The group, founded by longtime Democratic operatives Mike Goodman and Kyle Layman, boosted swing-district members of the New Democrat Coalition in a summer ad buy blasting Republicans’ Medicaid-cutting megabill.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who said last month she has not ruled out a run for president, will speak at a fireside chat. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), the New Dems chair, as well as Reps. Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.), Salud Carbajal (D-Cali.), Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Mich.), Marilyn Strickland (D-Wash.) and Greg Stanton (D-Ari.) will also attend.

Other speakers include Fox News commentator Jessica Tarlov, political reporters Leigh Ann Caldwell and Molly Ball, Impact Research’s Molly Murphy, SKDK’s Doug Thornell and Third Way’s Lanae Erickson.

Another sign that the group is buckling down ahead of November’s election: The EGC recently hired Andrew Wright, former Rep. Derek Kilmer’s (D-Wash.) chief of staff, as its first executive director.

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More than 100 candidates standing in next week’s election for the Senedd have made the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC)’s “Pledge for Palestine”, which includes supporting the Palestinian-led call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions on Israel.

A total of 115 candidates have so far signed the pledge, representing a wide range of political parties, including 46 Green candidates, 37 from Plaid Cymru, 8 from the Liberal Democrats, 6 from Labour, and 5 independents.

The “Senedd Palestine Pledge” commits candidates – if elected – to “take all appropriate steps to” (1) uphold the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, (2) stand up to Israel for its crimes of genocide and apartheid, and (3) ensure the Welsh government is not complicit in these crimes, including by supporting the Palestinian-led call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.

Prominent Senedd candidates taking the pledge

The pledge has been made by prominent Senedd candidates, including Wales Green Party leader Anthony Slaughter, former Members of the Senedd standing again such as Mike Hedges (Labour), Sioned Williams (Plaid Cymru), Llyr Gruffydd (Plaid Cymru), Sian Gwenllian (Plaid Cymru), Heledd Fychan (Plaid Cymru), former MP Beth Winter (community independent) and Rob Griffiths of the Communist Party of Britain.

With the new ‘closed proportional list system’, where voters select based on parties or independent candidates, rather than parties’ individual candidates, the pledge has been signed by 2 Labour, 3 Liberal Democrat, 10 Plaid Cymru and 12 Green first-placed candidates.

The pledge has direct relevance to the Senedd, particularly in light of last year’s revelation that the Welsh government had given a £500,000 grant to an arms company that exports parts for Israel’s F-35 fighter jets, despite the First Minister’s claims to the contrary. These aircraft have been used in Israel’s obliteration of Gaza, which is widely considered to have amounted to the crime of genocide, a finding confirmed by the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry.

The Senedd Pledge for Palestine follows PSC’s similar initiative in the English local elections, where more than 1,800 council candidates have made a ‘Pledge for Palestine’.

Bethan Sayed, co-chair of Palestine Solidarity Campaign Cymru, said:

Reaching 100 pledges is a milestone. It is a clear message that Palestine is on the ballot in this Senedd election. Wales has always aspired to be a nation that stands on the right side of history, a globally responsible nation that holds human rights and international law at its heart. These 100+ candidates are giving real meaning to that aspiration.

Support for Palestinian rights stretches across every community and every constituency in Wales. Polls show public backing for this issue. Voters will be watching closely to see who has the conviction to stand with them.

To those candidates who have not yet signed: time to act is now. This is a test of moral leadership. We urge every remaining candidate to sign the Pledge before polling day.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

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