| Topic: | Re:What on earth are Ealing Southall Labour party thinking? | |
| Posted by: | Chris Hurley | |
| Date/Time: | 23/03/19 15:28:00 |
| This might explain it: Ealing Southall MP Virendra Sharma had not attended a meeting of his local Labour party (CLP) for twenty-one months. Tonight that came back to haunt him after delegates voted by 41 – 18 in support of a motion of no confidence in him. Delegates from all wings of the party and from all groups within the local community spoke for the motion against the man they often describe as its ‘absent MP’. When asked to attend, he stated that does as its MP, he does not ‘need to’. Sharma has also claimed that he is too busy with parliamentary duties to attend CLP meetings. However, delegates pointed out that fellow Ealing MPs Stephen Pound and Rupa Huq attend the majority of members meetings despite holding at times front bench positions – and maintaining near 80% parliamentary attendance rates while Sharma’s attendance rate languishes at 59%. Members have also criticised the MP for a ‘slow and inadequate’ response to case work. Speakers condemned a recent e-mail Sharma sent to all members suggesting new members were racist. Members who had been in the party three years countered that he was in little position to judge – as he had never met them. Sharma was also labelled ‘divisive’ for comments that have upset Muslim and Sikh communities, leading to a multi-faith demonstration outside his offices before the general election asking the Labour Party to chose a better candidate. Members have also complained that a large property development on the site of the old gasworks has been blowing noxious benzine into residents’ homes for over a year, affecting their health and leading to schoolchildren being kept inside at break-times because of the intense smell. Sharma has been criticised by members of Clean Air for Southall and Hayes (CASH) him for not visiting even one residents’ home to discuss the issue. See more here: https://skwawkbox.org/2019/03/21/sharma-loses-ealing-southall-no-confidence-vote/?fbclid=IwAR0D6i_3yqF2fMQNVIw7zMPbGGMVE7sl_rd0B8HIyTkHVn-xyyT3w4sotqs |