Ken Livingstone blamed for Labour losses in Jewish areas

[FBaggins]

A Labour councillor in Manchester has directly attributed his party’s local slump to the antisemitism scandal that saw Ken Livingstone suspended. Labour kept control of Bury council, Greater Manchester, but saw its vote collapse in Prestwich, a town represented by the council with a high Jewish population. Labour lost three of its seats on Bury council, two of them wards in Prestwich, which is one of six towns the council represents. The Liberal Democrats gained the Prestwich ward of Holyrood from Labour, and the Conservatives gained the Prestwich ward of Sedgley from Labour. A Labour councillor in Sedgley, Alan Quinn, blamed these losses on comments about Israel and Hitler that led to Ken Livingstone’s suspension last week:

“It’s down to one person, and that’s Ken Livingstone. He has caused grotesque offence to the Jewish population in Prestwich with his absolutely awful comments. Our councillors put their hearts and souls into representing the area and there really is no place in the Labour Party for bigots like Ken Livingstone.”

Under similar scrutiny is the three-way marginal seat of Eastwood, a Scottish Parliamentary constituency that also has a high concentration of Jewish voters. In a significant gain, the Scottish Conservatives won the seat from Labour. It was once a Labour heartland; a vast bulk of it made up former Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy’s Westminster seat of East Renfrewshire when he was an MP.

...snip...

It will be clearer how badly the party's antisemitism problem has affected Jewish votes when the London results come through. Areas of north London, such as Golders Green and Stamford Hill, have a high proportion of Jewish voters, and about two-thirds of the UK's Jews live in Greater London.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/05/ken-livingstone-blamed-labour-losses-jewish-areas

[shira]

1. Voters in heavily Jewish north London turned away from mayoral poll

The Jewish Chronicle says that multiple voters in Barnet, a north London borough with the capital’s highest number of Jewish residents, are experiencing problems voting for the city mayor, due to polling station staff having received incorrect lists of voters.

British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis says he is among those prevented from voting.

An official for Barnet Council says the problem has “affected all 155 polling stations in the borough,” the JC reports.

Conservative mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith tells voters to try again later in the day, but Mirvis says this is out of the question for him as he is departing for the Netherlands today...

http://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/voters-in-heavily-jewish-north-london-turned-away-from-mayoral-poll/


Un-fucking-real.

[King_David]

2. Fuck off Ken Livingston POS

really is no place in the Labour Party for bigots like Ken Livingstone