Although Tower Hamlets voted Remain by 68 per cent to 32, the numbers should have been far higher, argues Cat Overton. While campaigning, she detected fears about immigration among ‘white working classes’ and beliefs among British Bengalis that Brexit could deliver more non-EU migrants for local businesses. She says Labour needs to do far more to reconnect with its grass roots.
Cat Overton is a lawyer and Labour party campaigner. She is also chair of Wapping Labour and Treasurer of the Tower Hamlets Labour party.
This is her guest post:
It is, admittedly, not something you hear uttered very often, but the EU is close to my heart.
I attended the European School of Brussels from primary school through to sitting the European Baccalaureat leaving exam. My identity is European as well as British, this dual identity I had always felt to be compatible and complimentary.
Like so many Londoners, my cultural identity is multi-layered. So for me the Brexit vote feels like a personal tragedy as well as a tragedy for our country and our local community.
Londoners are in shock and are angry. People living here from other EU countries are variously wondering what their future holds and whether they are still welcome here. A (albeit somewhat far-fetched) petition is circulating calling for the Mayor of London to declare London independent from the rest of the UK.
City workers are fearing for their jobs, following announcements by JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and HSBC that they may be relocating thousands of jobs to the continent. If realised, this will of course have a knock-on effect on our local economy in Tower Hamlets, in addition to the more obvious impact on Canary Wharf.
[The sheer scale of the Brexit challenge is mind-boggling. We will have to see whether Boris has the guts to pull the pin from the grenade that Cameron has dutifully handed to him by triggering Article 50, or whether he will somehow find a way of wriggling out of it. There could even be a second referendum. Remember we have not yet “left” Europe, despite the loose words of pundits and politicians alike. The referendum may have been an exercise in democracy but it is not binding on Parliament.]
But turning the focus more sharply on Tower Hamlets.
In the build-up to the Brexit vote, Tower Hamlets was listed as the tenth most pro-European local authority in the country. Sociologically, this was presumably because Tower Hamlets has a very young demographic, with many young professionals, a high graduate population and many liberal-minded residents working in the creative industries. Much of the local population could be described in ‘journo-speak’ as “cosmopolitan”.
It is a place where people from all over the world and from all over Europe live and work side by side and it feels to me like a culturally open place. It is forgotten that there are also massive levels of poverty, social deprivation and overcrowding. Nevertheless, there are opportunities here that are not necessarily enjoyed by the northern Labour heartlands.
Action pic on Brick Lane waiting for Alan Johnson MP to come out of a press conference #LabourInForBritain pic.twitter.com/ErmHx691Io
— Cat Overton (@catoverton_99) May 30, 2016
In the event, Tower Hamlets did vote to Remain. However, London lost the tug-of-war with the rest of England, partly because of unexpectedly high turnouts in Labour northern and midlands heartlands that voted heavily for Leave, but also because the Remain vote in London was not large enough to counterbalance the haul of Leave votes in those areas.
Tower Hamlets voted 67.5% (73,011) for Remain, 32.5% for Leave (35,224). By contrast, the high watermark was Lambeth where 79% voted to Remain. Turnout in Tower Hamlets was 64.5%. So turnout in Tower Hamlets was high compared to other elections, but Remain needed it to be significantly higher.
In the tenth most pro-European local authority, Leave still managed to secure a third of the votes. One in 3 people who voted in Tower Hamlets voted for Leave. Of course, many of those 35,224 Leave voters will have been Conservative or Ukip voters who could finally express their euroscepticism explicitly at the ballot box. But many of the Leave voters will also have been Labour voters.
Our two local Labour MPs firmly backed Remain, as did the Labour Mayor of Tower Hamlets John Biggs and the newly elected GLA member Unmesh Desai. And yet thousands upon thousands of Labour voters in Tower Hamlets voted for Leave.
The following observations are unscientific and based solely on my anecdotal experience as a campaigner who went out on the doorstep many many times during the referendum campaign:
1. Some of the white working class residents who we spoke to, typically over the age of 50, were very clear they would be voting Leave in order to lower immigration, whether immigration from outside the EEA or internal EU immigration. Time and time again I heard that their children and grandchildren had been forced to move out of Tower Hamlets due to pressures on housing caused by migrants. Others spoke of their wages being under-cut by EU migrants.
2. Again, anecdotally, there were apparently several splits in the British Bengali community. During the course of the campaign some activists spoke by way of hearsay of Priti Patel meeting the owners of catering companies telling them that if we left the EU it would be easier to secure UK visas for chefs from Bangladesh. We later heard on the doorstep that if internal EU immigration were to fall, it would perhaps be easier to bring others in from Commonwealth countries. We Labour activists campaigning for Remain (many of them themselves British Bengali) tried to persuade voters on these issues. It was unclear how successful we were being with that endeavour. [Note from Ted: Cllr Oli Rahman, leader of the Lutfurite Tower Hamlets Independent Group also voted Leave, according to his Facebook page.]
3. Closer to the day and on polling day itself, others splits appeared to be emerging. We noticed that previous Respect voters were telling us they were voting Leave. An articulate young man candidly told me that, whilst he believed that Remain was in the national interest, the economic meltdown that a Brexit vote would herald would prove to be his young family’s best chance of moving out of a council flat and buying their own home.
So unscientific as they may be, these anecdotal observations as a Labour campaigner in Tower Hamlets suggest a not dissimilar dynamic to what was happening in the working class communities in the northern and midlands Labour heartlands.
There can be no doubt now that Labour has a massive uphill battle to reconnect with its grassroots supporters. Labour is fighting for its very survival. Forces have been unleashed that appear to be out of control. But we have to carry on in the face of national despair and fight for the values we believe in and for the communities that we are in politics to serve.
Reblogged this on nearlydead.
Ladies & Gentlemen & politicians,
Warm Congratulations to the sensible people of Tower Hamlets. You make me feel proud.
The referendum was not a Fair Election, because for example
(A) some long time residents were banned from voting even when they run successful businesses and employ people local to their businesses.
(B) someone jumping off an aircraft at City, Heathrow or at any of the other airports can vote without having to understand English, without having to know anything about Britain and without having any intention to stay in this country.
Until these long outstanding abuses of so-called British Democracy are rectified, speculation on the biggest disaster to hit Europe since the Second World War is foolish.
The unfairly gagged (A) class non-voters would have ensured we remained IN
When Scotland goes Independent, parts of northern England may merge into Scotland. Newcastle-on-Tyne is 248 miles from Westminster but a tantalising 91 miles from Holyrood (data from postcodes web sites) with EU membership and the Single Market.
Meanwhile London voted “IN”. Perhaps Mayor Khan should proclaim Independence and move City Hall to Tower Hamlets then apply to become a Scottish enclave (as happens on mainland Europe) 😉
Curious Cat
Tower Hamlets helped contribute to the Remain defeat both by having relatively low turnout and due to the number of Out voters. Turnout at 64.59% was barely 1% above last year’s general election turnout and well below the 81% turnout of some parts of the country.
In my ward turnout in the polling station closest to Canary Wharf, at the Docklands Museum was only around 52% at 9pm. Ironically the area which most benefits from the EU was the least bothered about voting.
Tower Hamlets and my ward were clearly not as bothered as other areas in the UK about the vote.
But that should not be a surprise, politicians in Tower Hamlets were not that bothered either. Of 45 Councillors, only four were actively involved in the Stronger In campaign (two Labour & two Conservative), the official cross-party Remain campaign. As far as I know none were active in the Leave campaign. But activity overall was too low, minimal coverage in the local papers for example. Almost no mention of the Tower Hamlets based European Medicines Agency.
The views of the 17 Independent Councillors were virtually invisible with the exception of some social media posts from Cllr Ohid Ahmed. They have once again failed to provide any leadership, as far as the Referendum goes they might as well have not have existed. But campaigning outside the East London Mosque those who said they would vote out, often said they would do so because of economic competition from east Europeans. How ironic that people who have benefited from immigration were not willing to extend the same benefits to others although I suspect turn out was low due to the Bangladeshi origin community not voting in their normal numbers.
With 23 Councillors and a Mayor, the Labour party is the dominant party in Tower Hamlets with a large activist base but the decision to run a separate Labour In campaign was damaging, what was even more damaging was the failure to co-ordinate at a basic level with Stronger In. For example, on Thursday morning I leafletted next to the South Quay pedestrian bridge not realising that 200 meters away was a large Labour In battle bus outside the Jubilee Line station doing the same thing with Tessa Jowell. We were duplicating our activity; this would not have had any impact on the vote but still the first sign for me that things were not going well. Some people on Twitter thought a Labour branded bus in the heart of Canary Wharf was an error.
As for the Conservatives we were split but anecdotally I believe the majority locally supported Remain.
We now have to reassure our European neighbours that they are welcome and appreciated. We also need to get organised to ensure that whatever form of Out is adopted works for Tower Hamlets.
Don’t accept OUT – fight it every civilised way possible.
Sign the Second Referendum petition
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131215
3,383,526 signatures so far (minus the 77,000 vanished I alerted the BBC about)
The EU is the most important thing in this country’s current best interests. Flushing it down the loo is wrong.
If we leave, or run away, then rejoin – we will have the pay the same but without any rebate.
Labour collapsed, or were lazy, detached and indifferent, in my area too. That’s why I’m backing Hillary Benn even when I’m not a Labour voter – not a Tory voter any more.
Curious Cat
An European Englishman
Now an applicant for another Member State’s citizenship.
Wonder if I can become a Paddy since they speak almost the same language ?
What a mess !
Jusr for the record, I have and always been in support of Remain.
Hi Shahed,
Have you signed the petition for, effectively, a second referendum ?
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131215
3,558,064 signatures
Curious Cat
An European Englishman, until I change my nationality for that of another EU country.
There will be no second referendum on the Leave/Remain issue. The petition is being investigated for fraud. Scotland cannot block the Leave process and MPs would be committing political suicide if they blocked it in the House of Commons the way David Lammy suggests.
I was one of the keen observers who noticed the disappearance of votes that occurred between 12:30 and 14:30 on Sunday. The disallowed quantity was 77,000. Interestingly the popular petition, with currently 3,735,887 signatures, was a UKIP idea with only 44 signatures on referendum day.
One wonders if those fraudulent votes came from UKIP & its extremist allies trying to discredit the petition ?
Bit two-faced for UKIP and the other extreme right-wingers to now object to parliament implementing their original idea. It only goes to show everyone how dishonest those people actually are.
No I haven’t yet read about David Lammy’s idea – pauze – I agree with him. No 50 and Second Ref. Excellent news 🙂
Curious Cat
100% pro-EU.
If you believe another referendum is the answer, you’re as deluded and as much of an imbecile as David Lammy – the man who claimed a million Indians died in WWII fighting for the ‘European project’ – particularly a referendum in which you admit you wouldn’t vote.
It’s unfortunate you don’t believe in democracy and believe your opinion to be more important than that of the 17m people who voted to leave the EU. However, if you’re interested in running a poll that achieves the result you want, speak to Shahed Ali. I’m sure he can help or he knows a man who can.
How refreshingly different. Congratulations to Mr Lammy for being sensible and telling everyone the truth.
The Second World War would have never began if an EU had existed. That war started before the UN was invented and before the Council of Europe was invented. Incidentally the CoE gave its flag to the EU.
Some like me think so-called “British Democracy” means Free and Fair Elections (and referenda). Everyone with a functioning brain cell knows it was not free and not fair – if it was UKIP and its right-wing extremist allies would have lost.
Curious Cat
100% pro-EU.
To vote in the referendum should have been mandatory. And to have a simple majority rather than two thirds was silly. Blame those who didn’t bother to vote, not those who did!
I voted to Leave. I also vote Labour. Plenty of those who vote Conservative disobeyed Cameron and voted to leave. Are the tories going to get a space on this illustrious blog so they too can navel gaze as to why tory voters voted “the wrong way”?
MPs should vote to stay if that is what they think. MPs don’t have to do what we tell them, that isn’t how Parliament works.
Personally I would like to see greater ties with Commonwealth countries. I have more in common with them than Europeans. The idea that the whole of europe can up sticks and move to another part at will is just plain barking.
I overheard a group of twentysomethings moaning about people voting to leave being out of order as “they will be dead in ten years” Nice! Others that Leavers are racist, or stupid. I find the lack of respect for others views really appalling. It is as though all Leavers are Donald Trump wannabees!
(1) Which Commonwealth country or American or Chinese or Japanese company is going to make major investments in an isolated country called England & Wales of 50m consumers on the western fringe of a vibrant thriving EU with 500 million consumers ?
(2) Which offers the biggest returns on a major investment – a declining country floating adrift in the northern Atlantic without a paddle or a country inside the Single European Market ?
Wake-up and recognised the UK and GB are vanishing. Britain will drastically shrink in size before become Little England
The grand old days when Britain Ruled the Waves has been over for a very long time. Britain is the only country in the world without a proper national anthem – instead praises are sung to the monarch.
Jumping off the moving bus heading for a better future means you will be left way behind. Forcing other passengers off the bus for your own ideological satisfaction is unfair.
Curious Cat
I certainly think the Labour party leadership has a big problem in that is seems disconnected with its working class core supporters. It either has to re-align with them and their concerns or risk totally losing their support. Of course doing that risks losing the middle class support. This split from their working class base seemed to start with Blair. Who realised that to get elected he needed the middle class vote. So the traditional supporters were neglected on the basis that they would never, ever vote Tory. This worked for him, but the checkens are coming home to roost now as these traditional supporters are wondering who actually represents them
Some, including me, think Blair was more Tory than Labour. His father changed from Tory to Labour member on the day his son became PM.
CC.
It wasn’t a referendum of Tower Hamlets it was for the UK. Leave won by 1.2m votes with 70+% turnout providing an unprecedented mandate to leave the EU. Ms Overton’s ‘article’ adds nothing of substance, based as it is on speculation and by, her own admission, is unscientific and anecdotal sprinkled with a few undisputed figures. I’m at a loss to know what point she is making.
Year, won by lies, distortions and plain crap.
Financed by very wealthy people who hope to avoid scrutiny of their money sources when the EU tries to get EU-wide scrutiny of undeclared income.
CC.
Where’s your evidence for this or is it just more rambling nonsense you’ve hijacked this thread with?
Why did so many Labour supporters not reach the conclusions we intended them to? Because it was a referendum, and they were meant to be giving you *their* decision, not yours, and you could just try listening to people. If you want to know why parties lose their supporters, just look at what this post implies about what you think of them.
Since when have the major political parties, Lib Dems possibly accepted, really cared about their pleb voters ???
The Lib Dems ran intensive campaigns in Wapping and Lansbury – we had canvassers out almost every single day for two months and ran four street stalls at Chrisp Street Market. The leader of the party visited and canvassed Mile End; he didn’t get to go on holiday during the campaign, as the leader of the Labour Party did.
On referendum day, we started at 5am, leafleting in the rain with the volunteers from Denmark who’d volunteered to come and help us, sleeping on floors so they could take part. We then canvassed until 10pm.
During the entire campaign we saw two Labour activists, once. This is in an area where you have the Mayor, GLA member, council control and both MPs. I saw more activity from the TUSC than from the Labour party.
It’s hard to see this as anything other than complacency; Labour can take so many votes for granted that they aren’t used to fighting hard and going out into communities to talk to people. Sadly, this has cost us all at the time when it counted most.
Warm congratulations. Very well done. 🙂
CC.
I voted leave and I am delighted by the result and I am enjoying watching all the self righteous lefties throwing their toys out of their prams
Never ever voted Labour and definitely not a lefty. In England only voted Tory but haven’t voted for some years because the registration system violates Human Rights laws.
Many years ago voted SNIP.
Despite all that I am, always was and always shall be 100% pro-EU because I know what it was like before the Single Market and before the EEC changed to EU.
I’m using my brains – I wonder if the anti-EU voters really know enough about the EU to genuinely make a properly informed decision. Nigel Farrage, often called ‘Adolf’ here especially by the non-whites, is a biased source of information.
He hates the EU but has been an EU MP for years and he gladly accepted 1 million pounds (or Euros) from the EU for his UKIP party. If I hate someone or something I don’t accept their money or join their organisation – but then I try to have standards not associated with the gutters.
Curious Cat
100% Pro-EU