Bye-election called in St Peters

Due to one of my colleagues having to stand down, a bye-election has been called in my ward, St Peters.  However, what might at first seem like a relatively minor adjustment in the Council in Islington, where Labour won a 22 seat majority in the elections last year, has actually attracted a significant amount of attention, mainly because the Tories, who haven't held a seat on Islington Council for more years than anyone can remember, think they might have a chance.

Fortunately, we have a superb candidate in Alice Perry (centre of picture above, to the right of Emily Thornberry our MP).  Alice was born and brought up in Islington, went to school in Islington, and is now a governor of St Andrews School in Islington.  She works at the University of London, is an Arsenal season ticket holder, and vice-chair of our constituency party.  Alice has energy and commitment in abundance.  If you want to read more about her go to:

http://www.islington-labour.org.uk/support-alice/

In terms of opposition, we have seen some noticeable campaigning effort from the Tories in St Peters since the election was called, as compared to the Lib-Dems, who seem to be going for a repeat of their 2010 performance, which consisted entirely of a deluge of extremely negative leaflets, and no sign whatsoever of any supporters out canvassing.  We have seen groups of two or three Tories out most days, one of which is their candidate, whilst Labour has had teams of 12 - 15 people out every night and all weekend for the last three weeks. Saturday afternoon we had four separate teams out canvassing the ward, and support is looking pretty solid.

I have to say I am overwhelmed by the humongous amount of help we are receiving from our regular supporters in St Peters, fellow Councillors and supporters from all over the borough, and supporters and activists from neighbouring boroughs.  It really feels good to be out canvassing with such a great bunch of people.