Ahead of the general election on Thursday 12th December, five candidates for Enfield North make their pitch for your vote
Enfield North stretches from Enfield Town up to Enfield Lock and across to Crews Hill, including most of the borough’s Green Belt. It was represented by Joan Ryan before she decided to quit parliament, having previously defected from Labour to Change UK. The Conservatives held the seat for much of the 1980s and 90s, as well as between 2010 and 2015.
Enfield North voted 50.8% to remain in the EU at the 2016 referendum.
Feryal Clark, Labour Party
I’ve spent much of my adult life dedicated to improving public services and I’m determined we can do more to make Enfield a better place to live, work and bring up a family. Before running major local government services from health and social care to transport, I worked as a scientist in NHS pathology labs. It strengthened my belief that everyone deserves the best services and care, regardless of money.
I’m a straight talker and someone who gets things done. Enfield just isn’t getting a fair deal. Despite Conservative promises to fund our NHS, local services have been cut and cut again. The downgrading of Chase Farm Hospital was followed by threats to make it harder to access the urgent care centre. Parts of Enfield, like Chase ward, don’t even have a GP surgery. I’ll protect the urgent care centre and fight to get the GPs Enfield needs.
I want more police on our streets. The Conservatives cut 21,000 police officers and robberies and knife crime have hit record highs. Enfield’s police will have my full support and I’ll make it my mission to get them the resources they need to keep this community safe.
Many people in Enfield have no prospect of buying their own home or finding affordable rented accommodation for them and their families. Successive Tory governments promised to build 200,000 new ‘starter homes’ – but they’ve not built a single one. I’m proud Labour is putting its money where its mouth is and will build one million genuinely affordable homes over the next ten years. I’ll be working to make sure Enfield is ready to get its fair share.
On health, policing and housing, we know Enfield deserves better. There’s a big job to do and I’m asking for your support so we can get started.
Ike Ijeh, Brexit Party
Brexit is no longer just about leaving the European Union. It is simply about democracy. Brexit is democracy; the UK’s largest-ever democratic mandate gave a clear instruction to leave the EU. If we reject democracy, then we are free to reject Brexit.
What do the votes of 17.4 million people matter when the establishment, mainstream media and political elites disagree? Even worse; if these millions were poor, elderly, uneducated, northern and racist then surely they were not informed or entitled enough to give the right answer first time round and must be forced to vote again? This is the destructive dialogue of division that has paralysed this country since 2016.
The only way to resolve it is to ensure the democratic mandate of the EU referendum is fully enacted – the Brexit Party is the only party committed to making this happen. Only then can we begin to rebuild the shattered public trust in our political institutions. We can create a more electorally representative parliament, reform the Supreme Court and House of Lords and end the pernicious practice of MPs switching parties without calling by-elections.
We can build the homes people need, improve the NHS, protect the environment, defeat crime, install a fair immigration system that does not discriminate against non-Europeans, and create a prosperous Britain that is international, inclusive and independent.
I am not a career politician. I am an architect with a young family, seeking to represent you because I believe democracy is about representing the people, not the establishment. It doesn’t matter which way you voted in the 2016 referendum, if you’re left- or right-wing, capitalist or socialist. If you believe nobody’s opinion is more important than your vote then there is only one way you can vote now; vote Brexit Party, vote democracy.
Joanne Laban, Conservative Party
Quite simply, I would love to represent the area I have lived in all my life. I was born at Chase Farm Hospital and I grew up in Enfield Highway. I attended Brimsdown Primary School and then to Bishop Stopford’s School. While I was studying, I taught swimming at all the borough’s leisure centres.
I now live in Enfield Town and I have been a local councillor since 2010. I am very proud to be the first female leader of the Conservative group on Enfield Council. Over the years, I have been a school governor at Forty Hill Primary School and I now serve as a trustee of the local Nightingale Cancer Centre charity based in Baker Street. I attend St Andrew’s Church in Enfield Town regularly.
I am determined to make Enfield North an even better place to live and I want to be a strong, local voice for our area. I care about Enfield because I live here, I have grown up here and I went to school here. I want Enfield North to benefit from the extra 20,000 police officers and the additional funding for our schools and hospitals. I am very concerned about Enfield Council’s drive to build more tower blocks in the borough and I will do all I can to prevent these from changing our skyline.
I also want to make sure that we finally get Brexit done. It is essential that we honour the result of the 2016 EU referendum in order to ensure that people retain confidence in our democratic process. I would be honoured to be given the chance to become the MP for the area I call home.
Guy Russo, Liberal Democrats
Enfield North needs a fresh start. After decades of jostling from the same two parties, it’s time for a change. For too many people things aren’t working as they should be; inequality and poverty are too high, crime is taking the lives of too many people my age, and the housing crisis is out of control.
I’m Enfield through and through. I was born here to a mixed family of Commonwealth and European migrants. I grew up among these streets, parks, schools and hospitals. I’m part of a generation of people who know just how it feels to struggle to get a good job, get on the property ladder, and make your way in 21st Century Britain. That’s why I’m standing for the Liberal Democrats, who plan to build a fairer economy, give every child the best start in life, and protect public services.
Labour and the Conservatives are stuck in the past. They have let Enfield North down and now they are letting the whole country down with their fixation on delivering Brexit. Liberal Democrats like me want to fix our broken politics, first by getting a mandate to stop Brexit and then by getting on with building a brighter future – tackling the climate emergency, making communities safer and reforming our broken constitution.
Enfield North is often called a swing seat because voters here have switched parties in the past, but our values remain constant – hard work, compassion and openness to the world. Now that Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson have rushed to the extremes and openly abandoned our values, voters in Enfield North want change with an MP who stands up for them.
So in that tradition, I’m asking you to switch your vote on 12th December to me and the Liberal Democrats. Together we can deliver a fresh start for Enfield North and a brighter future for Britain.
Isobel Whittaker, Green Party
I am a former legal aid lawyer and have been an environmentalist since my teens. I joined the Green Party in 2014; we were facing an emergency and I needed to join the fight to raise awareness and help change the corrupted political landscape.
A mass extinction has begun and has to be stopped. Environment is not a side issue, nature is not a ‘nice to have’ – if we don’t act fast and put the planet at the heart of decision-making, we risk extreme climate breakdown.
Vote Green Party for science fact, not science fiction. We’re the only party with realistic policies to tackle climate change. Other parties have dithered, bickered and passed the blame – they’ve been in denial. We have evidence-based solutions to put into action now; renewable energy, clean air, cheap energy to heat homes, free healthcare, reliable public transport, safe food, green spaces and long-term solutions to crime and poverty.
A vote for me is a vote for justice. The Greens will pass the benefits of technological advances back to ordinary people, with policies such as universal basic income and a four-day working week. These were our policies from the beginning and we understand them. Our ‘Green New Deal’ puts your wellbeing first, over economic systems based on endless growth.
The Greens are also standing for a ‘People’s Vote’ on Brexit; you should have the final say.
Labour and the Conservatives will tell you to vote tactically – I say vote for who you believe in. When Greens vote, Greens win; we doubled our councillors this year and have seven MEPs. The first-ever ‘climate emergency’ declaration was championed by a Green councillor. Vote for another Green voice in parliament; an MP to rebuild a Britain and pave a path for a greener future.
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