University of East London Homepage

Local business people quiz mayoral candidates at Newham Chamber of Commerce / UEL hustings

Thursday 20 April 2006

The Olympics and the redevelopment of Queen’s Market were among hot topics at a mayoral hustings organised by the Newham Chamber of Commerce and held at the University of East London’s (UEL) Stratford Campus on the evening of Tuesday 18 April.

Rival candidates from Labour, Respect and the Christian People’s Alliance gave five-minute speeches and fielded questions on a wide range of issues relevant to Chamber members.

Labour candidate and incumbent Mayor Sir Robin Wales said: “We at the town hall constantly aim to work with the local community and achieve bottom-up success. We’re focussing on the key concerns of the community – education, housing, jobs and health - and the response we’re getting on the ground, from independent surveys, shows a good deal of satisfaction.”

Alan Craig, of the Christian People’s Alliance, strongly disagreed, saying: “The culture of the Town Hall is a disgrace to democracy. What we as a party stand for is very different - we believe that the role of leadership is to facilitate, encourage and empower, not to dictate major projects irrespective of the desires of the people.”

Abdurahman Jafar, standing as the mayoral candidate for Respect, said: “I’m very happy to be back at UEL, from where I graduated with a degree in Law, and also to be talking to you as an advocate of Respect – the only party which offers a real opportunity to break the forty-year stranglehold which has resulted in a lazy and complacent council.”

The evening's debate was chaired by Jonathan Swan, Director of Operis TRG Ltd and a member of the Newham Chamber of Commerce. Jonathan said: “Lots of people are still getting to grips with the role of the executive mayor and tonight is a great opportunity for the local business community to hear from the candidates.”

Ends/.

For details and pictures contact Patrick Wilson: 020 8223 2061 or 07951 797 975

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

Information for screenreader users:

For a general description of these pages and an explanation of how they should work with screenreading equipment please follow this link: Link to general description

For further information on this web site’s accessibility features please follow this link: Link to accessibility information