“I’m fighting for a society based on need, not greed” said Pamela Fitzpatrick at the launch of her canvassing session for Harrow West.
Ms Fitzpatrick, a long-time socialist, well known community activist and a Harrow councillor (until 2022), is standing as an independent parliamentary candidate for Harrow West at the general election.
“I’m standing because the established parties have let ordinary people down”, said Ms Fitzpatrick and added “Labour and the Conservatives have become identical, both offering policies that will only benefit the rich”.
“As Starmer keeps telling us, he has changed the Labour Party. It is now unrecognisable as the Labour Party. Instead, it has changed to a party that cares little for democracy, is a safe home for Tories and one which supports war crimes” she has said.
Ms Fitzpatrick is likely to appeal the voters feed-up with Con-Lab converging politics.
She demands genuinely affordable housing, fully funded local services, green industrial revolution and justice for Palestine.
In a separate move, George Galloway who has established a branch of his Workers Party in Harrow East, has said that in Harrow West they will support Ms Fitzpatrick instead.

Anyone who knows Susan Hall, a Harrow councillor and non-elected London Assembly member, would find it difficult to disagree with councillor Susan Hall’s long-term associate Barry Macleod-Cullinane’s defection.
By now Sadiq Khan is seen as a victim of the nasty campaign, based on scaremongering and lies, because who he is.
Mr Macleod-Cullinane’s disassociation with Cllr Hall, the Conservative London mayor candidate, tends to explain why hardly any of her fellow Conservative councillors have been in slight at her Harrow campaigns, even when the Conservative Party chairman attended.
Looks that the Harrow council Conservative administration do not want to spoil their hard-earned good public image by associating with Cllr Hall whose political failures are fresh in the voters minds (Conservatives lost the Harrow council in 2010 and again in 2014 because of Cllr Hall’s political immaturity but regained the council in 2022 under Cllr Paul Osborn leadership, a well-educated, balanced and non-confrontational politician).
Also read ULEZ play

Pamela Fitzpatrick, a committed activist for social and economic justice, peace, and human rights in Harrow and beyond, is standing as an independent parliamentary candidate for Harrow West.
“I will always stand up for the people of Harrow West” says Ms Fitzpatrick, a member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and a director of the Peace and Justice Project.
As an independent representative not needing to tow any political party line, Ms Fitzpatrick would be like a powerful magnet for the voters disillusioned by the Labour and Tory converging politics under the inadequate and incapable leadership that has failed to be on the same page as public on many local, national and international concerning matters.
Pamela Fitzpatrick was a long-standing member of the Labour Party, Labour councillor in Harrow for eight years and was the Unite backed Labour parliamentary candidate in Harrow East in 2019.
She has worked in the voluntary sector for over 30 years, set up a legal advice centre in Harrow in 2010 and has been an active trade union member for 40 years.
Reflecting on why Harrow West needs change, Ms Fitzpatrick said:
“I am deeply rooted to the community in Harrow West. I have lived, worked and raised my family here, as a result understand exactly the issues and pressures that confront this community – this is the agenda for my candidacy rather than representing the interests of a mainstream party as a ‘whipped’ MP”.
“Harrow West needs a candidate that is going to stand up and address our community’s acute housing crisis. I am committed and determined to fight for more affordable homes and challenge the surge in luxury developments that do not meet our community’s needs. Everyone deserves a safe, affordable place to call home”.
“It’s clear to all who know Harrow West that reversing the devastating cuts to our local services is desperately needed. I am dedicated to ensuring our schools, healthcare, and support services receive the funding they need. Our community deserves access to quality public services that support everyone’s well-being”.
Ms Fitzpatrick also said: “I pledge to foster an inclusive community, addressing the impacts of international conflicts and promoting solidarity”.

Having heard local concerns, the Harrow Monitoring Group has reported a recent leaflet from the Tory London Mayor candidate Susan Hall, also a Harrow councillor, to the appropriate bodies.
Received through the letter box, the A5 leaflet has the eye grabbing words “DRIVING CHARGE NOTICE”, “DO NOT IGNORE” “WARNING” in large font against a yellow background, giving the false and misleading impression at first glance that it is an official notice from an authority.
Being very careful drivers, some residents, many not skilled in scanning QR code, were in utter shock. It was only when they read small wording at the bottom of the back page, that they discovered it was an unpleasant scaremongering campaign leaflet sent on behalf of Susan Hall.
They rightly feel this a disgraceful tactic to get support and an unacceptable behaviour.
The leaflet gives a sense that it is deliberately designed to shock and worry people by falsely making them initially believe it is a driving warning notice. This seems to be the reason that the only indication that it is a Tory party leaflet, appears in small wording at the bottom of the back page.
In any case, Hall does not come across as a competent candidate in the mind of the masses, apparently including some from her own party.
Therefore, this needs to be investigated and the appropriate action taken by the Conservative Party and the UK Electoral Commission.
Also read this

After launching his re-election campaign today (18 March), London mayor Sadiq Khan said: “Today – in my first major pledge of the Mayoral election campaign – I’ve committed to delivering at least 40,000 new council homes in London by the end of the decade”.
Mr Khan branded it the “greatest council homebuilding drive in a generation” and promised to deliver 40,000 new council homes for the capital between 2018 and 2030, building on his previous target of starting 20,000 which he met last year.
In his speech, the Labour leader Starmer, who joined Sadiq Khan re-election campaign, said  “On May 2nd the choice is clear: chaos and division with the Tories, or unity and hope with Labour.”
The mayor’s Housing pledge was appreciated by the Harrow West MP Gareth Thomas, who said on X: “This could have a significant impact on homelessness and the cost of living crisis in Harrow and across London. It will bring hope for a better future for many of the most hard-pressed families in our city. Bravo Sadiq Khan”.
The mayor, who has been subjected to all kinds of racism, also defended his record on tackling air pollution, on transport including keeping down fares this year, and on his free school meals programme for primary school pupils.

In meeting their statutory duty, the Harrow council has worked out the draft Serious Violence Strategy report that is before the forthcoming cabinet meeting.
The council will receive £79,000 over three years for discharging the Serious Violence Strategy and delivering the priorities within it, including to reduce Serious Violent Crime with young people below the age of 25 and to tackle Violence against Women and Girls.
In informing the crime and population profiles in Harrow, the report points out that “Serious Violence is not distributed evenly across the population and significant inequalities exist. Certain groups and geographical areas within Harrow are at higher risk of exposure to and involvement in Serious Violence”.
But the portfolio-holder’s forward seems to be less specific about the differential impact of the crime on the groups of people in Harrow: “Violence can impact any resident at any time. We need to act at the earliest stage to prevent acts of serious violence”.
[Preventing crime without addressing the cause and not knowing who, where and why has limitations, and is usually ineffective!]
For example, the report identifies that “The ethnic profile of survivors recorded by the Met Police shows that Harrow’s white population were impacted most by domestic abuse”.
In generating the violence specific data, the report relies on the incidents reported to the authorities while there is national evidence that some crimes like domestic abuse, including to women and girls, and more so in some communities, are under-reported.
Consequently, the report is less specific about encouraging more and better reporting by and provisions for different communities [most of the working partners that the report mentions could be less attractive, for example, to the Asian community (at least 45%) who might need the community rather than conventional approach for preventing and tackling the crime].
The strategy, by a diversity-rich council, needs to identify measures to access the groups of people who are more likely to suffer in silence.
Furthermore, as the success criteria of the strategy is based on monitoring the violence incidents reported to the authorities, the success of the strategy need to include gauging improvement in under-reporting, using the ethnic minority reporting data.
Interesting that the council has a ‘multi-agency’ approach in preventing and tackling serious violence and other crime safety measures through pockets of initiatives with pockets of funding, which requires robust central coordination for the effectiveness.
[The Serious Violence Panel, Safer Harrow etc with several established partnerships that interrelate with the priorities of the Serious Violence Strategy].
Odd that the ‘hate crime’ is not serious enough to be included in the strategy – what an omission!
[Hate crimes in Harrow* March 23 to Jan 24: 427, including racist and religious crime 396, Anti-Semitic 42, Islamophobic 30, homophobic 29]
*here

Pamela Fitzpatrick, a “proud socialist, trade unionist and mum” will be standing as an independent parliamentary candidate in Harrow West at the next general election.
She says she is standing because being tired of “corruption, hypocrisy and injustice” and that “at a time when it is so desperately needed, we no longer have a Labour Party”.
After the budget few days ago, she posed a question for the Labour “So you’re backing all of today’s Budget… you’ve got identical fiscal rules – how does Labour’s economic policy differ from the Conservatives?”
Ms Fitzpatrick was not short of words in describing the latest association between the Labour leader and the Common’s speaker that resulted in the chaotic Commons debate about the war in Gaza last month: “Starmer and Hoyles actions this week, accusing Muslims of being a threat to MPs, has whipped up hatred against Muslims. The Forde report confirms Labour’s institutional racism. Starmer and other senior Labour MPs constantly treat Palestinian lives as less valuable than others”.
Pamela Fitzpatrick was a long-standing member of the Labour Party, Labour councillor in Harrow for eight years and was the Unite backed Labour parliamentary candidate in Harrow East in 2019.
She has worked in the voluntary sector for over 30 years, set up a legal advice centre in Harrow in 2010 and has been an active trade union member for 40 years.
Ms Fitzpatrick was caught up in the injustice of Labours retrospectively applied disciplinary process, and has since highlighted her ill-treatment by some powerful local and national Labours.
Many on social media were quick to welcome Ms Fitzpatrick decision to challenge the Harrow West sitting MP Gareth Thomas (Lab) who has attracted public protests because of his watered-down approach to a ceasefire to stop killings in Palestine.
“For all those in Harrow who say we do not have options. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Stand for hope and Justice vote for Pamela Fitzpatrick”, wrote the social justice activist Aghileh Djafari-Marbini who had previously resigned from the Labour Party over Gaza.
Rapid support for Ms Fitzpatrick is understandable given the public disappointment about the Labour being ineffective opposition where they, like the government, and public are not on the same page on matters like financial decision-making, health and care provisions, employment, social welfare, and justice and peace.

In an email shot after voting for Labour amended* Gaza ceasefire motion at the chaotic Commons debate about the war in Gaza last Wednesday, Gareth Thomas, MP for Harrow West, said: “I will continue to use my voice to call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to end the bloodshed and suffering and to allow a sustained effort to salvage the hope of a two-state solution”.
The Palestine-Israel situation is a matter of significant concern in Harrow as indicated by public demonstrations, including outside Mr Thomas constituency office in Harrow for his ambiguous position regarding the ceasefire.
Furthermore, the Conservative candidate for the Harrow West seat, Abbas Merali is from the community that Mr Thomas has relied upon for votes.
“I share the pain and anger we all feel at the level of death and destruction in Gaza. We’ve all been shocked and appalled by the heart-breaking loss of life we’ve seen in the Middle East. The huge number of children killed is intolerable” Mr Thomas reassured.
Regarding what has been happening in Palestine, he said:
“Israel has used devastating tactics that have seen far too many innocent civilians killed, with unacceptable blocks on essential aid, nowhere safe for civilians, a growing humanitarian catastrophe and warnings of a deadly famine.
“Israel must not launch a military offensive in Rafah, the fighting must stop now. Around 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering there with nowhere safe to go, having previously been told to flee there by the Israeli military. Any military offensive in Rafah risks catastrophic consequences for the civilian population and fatal disruption to the humanitarian operation”.
Mr Thomas says that unlike Conservatives, he believes “the ICJ’s (International Court of Justice) interim ruling under the Genocide Convention on the situation in Gaza is profoundly serious and Israel must comply with the measures issued by the court in full”.
The Conservatives did not support the Labour amended motion for the immediate ceasefire to the fight in Palestine and “walked out of the House of Commons”.

*read the SNP’s Gaza ceasefire motion and the watered-down amendments here

The Labour catching phrase ‘immediate and permanent ceasefire’ to the fighting in Palestine after thousands killed, and now repeated by Harrow West MP Gareth Thomas, seems to be catching up!
Palestine-Israel situation is a significant public concern, including in Harrow as indicated by a number of demonstrations calling for an end to the fight. The issue has serious implications for the elections.
Therefore, no surprise that Tory parliamentary candidate for Harrow West Abbas Merali (photo) in his statement requests the government to call for “an immediate and permanent ceasefire as the only way of achieving long term peace in the Middle East”.
“We can no longer accept the Israeli government’s dismissal, in words and deeds, of two states. Nor can we ignore the recent ruling and the binding provisional measures from the International Court of Justice”, he said.
Abbas Merali from the community that Mr Thomas has relied upon for votes, is a Three Rivers District Council councillor who went to John Lyon school in Harrow. He is a qualified chartered accountant and runs the care homes business, including one in Harrow West.
In explaining why he is standing for Harrow West, he said: “It is clear that people’s concerns have been ignored for many years and Labour have taken their votes for granted.
“Harrow West needs a dynamic change! I am determined to restore pride and bring back the Harrow. I will work closely with the Conservatives run Harrow Council, government ministers and holding the London Mayor to account to make Harrow a safer, attractive, healthier and prosperous place to live!”
His statement concludes: “I urge the government, all members of my party, and my political opponents to join me in calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire”.