Politics
Independents rise in Lewisham as they set out to challenge the establishment
It’s just nine days until the local elections, where establishment parties are expecting a bit of a kicking at the ballot box. In their place, the country is seeing a huge rise in independents, Greens, and Your Party. These groups intend to turn the tide for local communities.
We spoke to Your Party candidate Daniel Ansell who is standing in Lewisham Central, alongside fellow YP Davis St Marthe. Ansell, Marthe, and Callum Carter – standing in Rushey Green. Together, they are working to rebuild trust in their local communities, which establishment parties have squandered.
Ansell: “it’s a very different experience than what you see online”
We asked Ansell about how many are standing for YP, how it’s going and whether it’s been hard breaking through to local people:
People are weary, right? So, it’s hard.
We just started this in March. You’re not going to sway people’s opinions on politicians in just two months, because we’re not doing anything yet really. Like, maybe we’re talking a good game, but will we do it or are we just turning up for votes and then they won’t see us for four years?
There are three of us standing. It’s good. It’s interesting to see the difference in understanding or perspective between people that are very into politics, and the actual electorate we’re introducing ourselves to. We’re new, so we’re trying to just do an introduction because a lot of people haven’t heard of Your Party. Some people don’t even know Jeremy Corbyn’s left the Labour Party.
People have opinions on big things, but not everyone has an opinion of little things, which perhaps people that follow politics or are active in politics have a bit more of an opinion on and understand a lot more. So, dealing with elections and getting people out on the door, it’s a very different experience than what you see online.
He then pointed to the legacy of broken trust in politics as a result of establishment parties failing to deliver on their promises. In contrast, Ansell told us about how he is working to show his local community that he intends to act as opposed to making empty, lofty promises:
That’s how people see politicians: extractive, like wanting something from you, not wanting to give anything back. And that takes a while to change that opinion. You have to start doing stuff.
There was a lot of hope and excitement around this new party. So, I went to a meeting with a collective called Lewisham People’s Assembly and I just liked the energy of the room.
There were lots of people from different places. There were Green Party people, there were people from local campaign groups, peace groups. It was a really nice mix of different interests, but people wanted to work together. I got involved in that group last summer, and then we started the campaign to Save Lewisham Shopping Centre.
I gradually got more involved and then kind of helping to lead it. And there’s a guy called Faris Luke – he actually put in an article in the Tribune in November.
“The local Labour Party hate us, which is always a good sign.”
He [Faris] outlined what we’re doing, which he’s been leading. And yeah, I’m kind of taking a prominent supporting role in the campaign and it’s been going well.
The local Labour Party hate us, which is always a good sign. Yeah, they put up an attack piece in the Evening Standard against us, saying there were ‘shadowy, Green, and Corbyn agents coming from outside the borough to cause problems’.
Of course, Labour never draw attention to the shadowy people they work at the behest of – much to the disadvantage of our communities and wider society.
However, it appears that Starmer feels threatened by these local independents. Probably because they’re actually trying to change things for their communities, as Ansell underscored:
Yeah, they’ve been sending leaflets around saying we are conducting a misinformation campaign, because they know we’re making a difference. But it’s a zero-sum game, so if they are having to put energy into tackling us, then they can’t throw energy on their own campaign.
So, I got involved in that campaign, and with the local Your Party proto-branch bubbling along, there were conversations around, “shall we stand any candidates in the race?” And the natural place to try and stand candidates would be Lewisham Central, because that’s where there’s the issue of the shopping centre, but also the gateway redevelopment, which has seen a whole load of problems.
Novara actually did a piece on that, which went up this week to promote Liam Shrivastava’s mayoral campaign. So yeah, he kind of was outlining, I guess, in that, his opinion on it. So, we decided not to stand the mayoral candidate in our proto-branch because Liam, the Green candidate, has got a pretty strong campaign.
And ultimately, one of our goals is to get rid of Labour. And we’re not in a position to have a policy program in place to actually deliver, but on a personal level, I didn’t think we were at the point where we wanted to do that. I don’t think there’s a line that we don’t support the Greens. I think everyone has their own position on it… I think Liam’s the best to get rid of Labour at a mayoral level.
Labour and its “sham consultation” in Lewisham
Speaking about his active work alongside Faris Luke to demand better for Lewisham Central, Ansell told us:
Yeah, so we did a rally in March on Sunday. Yeah, Faris, the lead organiser, he spoke, I spoke, Liam Shrivastava spoke.
This is a big issue – it’s kind of housing and gentrification wrapped in one. It really is quite good at capturing people, because people care about housing, people care about their heritage.
Like, why get rid of a shopping center that’s functional and that people are fond of? There’s a lack of consideration about what people actually want.
They did this sham consultation, kind of shoehorned in – they put in some nice, shiny things, saying you’re going to get all these nice things, but didn’t mention the housing proposal at all. [They also] didn’t mention the fact that the things are actually for this whole new set of people they’re bringing in, into these expensive flats.
The housing has not been designed to benefit the community; it’s been designed to push out the community, and yeah, that’s something I’m not willing to accept.
Ansell also works collaboratively and in respect with other independents across London, referring to Shake It Up, who have been working in solidarity across London:
I went on to a housing meeting they [Lambeth] had a few weeks ago. There’s this group called Shake It Up. They were there and Laura Graham was there and it was really good just to chat and meet different groups. I think one of the really heartwarming and brilliant things that’s coming out of this is getting a network of people doing the same things, against all odds, just trying to do something different rather than allowing this kind of negativity to get to them.
Ansell: “I’m not here to get power for myself – let’s get power for the community”
Refusing to let the perfect be the enemy of the good, Ansell explained why he chooses active work and optimism rather than factional bickering in YP:
It’s like, no – actually, I’m going to use this as a platform. It might not be a great platform yet, but it is a platform to actually do good work, and I’m going to use it.
And that’s kind of it. I think, for Your Party, despite its faults, it’s the best vehicle around right now if you want to promote the working class, want to promote socialism. I guess if you’re already in the Green Party, or you’ve already made a decision, then whatever – you’re attached to that project. But I wasn’t, so it was kind of easy for me to go this way.
I mean, I’m not here to get power. If I wanted power, I could have joined the Green Party, definitely. I could have got in, because they’re doing very well locally. They’ve got momentum. They’re quite organised. If I wanted to go that way, I could have done that.
But I’m not here to get power for myself – let’s get power for the community. It’s not always about sitting on the council to do that.
Whilst he has clearly been proactive in local campaigns, Ansell intends to go much further if elected on 7 May:
Yeah, we’ve not done enough yet. Presenting what I’m doing is important – talking about my involvement in this campaign to save the shopping centre. People are really interested in that. People are interested in the idea that everyone deserves affordable housing. It’s not a controversial thing – even people who have nice housing are ‘for’ everyone having affordable housing.
As a basic principle, people agree that everyone should be able to afford to live and not be in poverty. So that’s been a good way of introducing myself.
There’s this Vote Palestine campaign – that’s, again, another way of introducing who I am and where I stand and things like that. Also, pointing out – because a lot of people aren’t aware – that the council does have investments through their pension fund in Israeli companies that are complicit in the genocide. It’s important to point that out. I’m not here to do negative campaigning, but you need to tell people what’s happening, because a lot of the time they don’t understand.
Some of the housing associations could be doing better work, and people tell us the issues they’re having with the owners of the building – because you’ve got blocks of flats, and housing associations who are not doing the best work. You can see poverty a bit more now. In the town centre, you see people not in great shape, perhaps with mental health issues, just roaming the streets, probably needing a lot more support than they’re getting.
When people see that, they maybe feel less safe because of it – I think safety is a big one. Obviously, from a left-wing perspective, you have to think about how you want to talk about that, because that’s something the right wing quite often takes advantage of – people’s feelings of not being safe – and the left probably needs to do it a bit better.
I’m not always talking about that, but we think it’s about the community coming up with the solutions. Whether it’s down to security or development, the community should be leading these conversations, not being given some crumbs and told to be grateful.
Unfortunately, the Green Party has decided to stand a full slate in Lewisham, which raises the risk of a split in the local progressive vote.
Nevertheless, Ansell refuses to be discouraged:
It’s a shame they decided to run a full slate. I think communication could be a bit better between us and them [the Greens], but… I wouldn’t say it’s antagonistic
They’re not actively campaigning in their seat. I’ve kind of accepted that’s just what they’re doing, which is fine. We are different parties. Perhaps, in a way, this settles the mind of, yeah, I made the right decision.
Ansell: People are “given some crumbs and told to be grateful”
Ansell also explained how he intends to change things for his local community:
I think you just need to be doing things, right? You know, you start a running club, you organise Zumba classes, you do stuff. And it’s not about taking over and controlling that. You just help people help themselves.
Community building is not telling people, you know, just… the top-down central kind of … “We’re going to do this for you, so what do you want?” [Instead, it’s:] “How can we help you do that”, you know?
Asked about whether Labour are a credible threat locally, Ansell told us:
People don’t like Labour – I don’t know, yeah, just to see what their vote is like. I think maybe there’s that thing previously of shy Tory voters – voting Tory, but not wanting to say. I think maybe that’s going to come back a little bit with the Labour Party. I mean, their vote is still out there, but quite often people are very angry towards the Labour Party.
You can start a conversation just by saying – I don’t want to focus on being negative – but, you know, the Labour Party have been letting us down, and people are nodding along. People feel that and are ready for a change, even lifelong Labour supporters – culturally Labour people – thinking, “well, maybe I need to change things, things aren’t going well here.”
So, I think it’s definitely an opportunity. It’s an opportunity for Reform as well, and that’s something we need to tackle. I think we’d probably be in a better place to tackle that than the Green Party. I think the kind of voter that might be looking at Reform – they may look at the Green Party as well – but I think maybe we’re better positioned as [we’re] more focused on the working class.
I mean, maybe I’m projecting a little bit there – my personal politics or who I am – but that’s the way I see it.
“People are confused now as well, and fatigued”
Refreshingly, it appears Reform votes are likely to swing towards these local independents. This is arguably due to their clear intention to fight a broken system on behalf of people who feel forgotten and neglected.
Speaking about how people no longer trust traditional party politicians, this independent intends to repair that broken trust with locals:
Yeah, when people look to see what’s around, right – there’s definitely, from talking to people on the doorstep, a kind of cohort who, when we introduce ourselves, are considering voting for us, whereas before they were looking to vote for Reform. There’s only one Reform candidate where we are, and it’s a two-seat ward, so it’s not – you know, we might even get their second vote or something.
It’s quite complicated. People’s politics are complicated. People are confused now as well, and fatigued, aren’t they?
I just – I mean, it’s much the same thing. You just pitch yourself in, because people want – there’s a lack of trust in politicians. You have to present yourself in a way that they can trust in.
In fact, adding to his credentials as a man of his community, Ansell already works with young people as an athletics coach. He coaches local kids twice a week, benefiting local families, and explains that getting involved in politics isn’t that dissimilar:
Well, I’m more competent than the councillors we have right now…
Locally, I’m involved in athletics and coach athletics twice a week. I’ve been doing that like 4-5 years. You get to know people, you get to know your community. And you become an important figure in that, especially helping people’s children. People respect you if you’re helping their children.
It’s interesting, you know, getting people’s numbers, and building your network, and you’re monitoring that all the time and all these groups. I’m not looking to step back from that. But doing that, I’ve got to know so many different families. Especially when you try and organise for a competition, you’re chatting to 30 different mums at a time, trying to get them to bring their kid along.
And it’s kind of similar to [local] politics, having all these conversations with people just trying to like build something organised, you know?
“Let’s try and do something” for Lewisham
Ansell is a signatory to the Vote Palestine pledge and is working to challenge oppression across British society. He intends to draw a line under the factional bickering that has long plagued YP. Instead, he prefers to move forward with positive action:
I’m coming from a perspective of doing stuff in the community.
Labour won every seat last time around and they’ve had four defections to the Greens. There are four Greens now [on the council]. Now, that might be hard to take down in one round, and obviously we are standing two candidates. Because we’re not in a position to do more. But we wanted to start something to be a positive team in the Your Party project, rather than people just starting on each other.
So, let’s try and do something, and it’s interesting for people to see another person turning out, you know, that actually wants to do the work.
We at the Canary recognise how people are sick of the political establishment. Therefore, we urge local people in Lewisham to vote for candidates who bring hope and humility.
After all, councillors who genuinely care about Lewisham are far more likely to fight for their communities.
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