Constituency Focus: Ealing Central and West Acton

Cheerleading: Boris Johnson with Tory candidate Angie Bray at Ealing Broadway

15 April 2015

It looks like any other suburban shopping centre, but people in the cafés and stores of Ealing Broadway are being lavished with attention by politicians.

Two famous blonds — Boris Johnson and comedian Eddie Izzard — have both been parachuted in to the shopping centre to drum up support in the key marginal of Ealing Central and Acton.

And it is people like Barbora Mohammed that they are looking for. The 69-year-old is one of many in the area who have yet to make their minds up, meaning the constituency is all to play for. “I don’t know how young people today can afford to survive,” she said. “I haven’t voted for a long time. I might do this year for Labour because I think one of the worst things the Tories did was the bedroom tax.”

Another voter, Steve Finn of Blue Sky, a social enterprise that employs ex-offenders, said he would not decide who to choose until he steps into the polling booth. However, he admitted that he is leaning towards the Conservatives as “I don’t think Labour is quite ready, so it might be better to stick with the devil you know.”

The seat, which includes Acton as well as Ealing town centre and the more deprived area around Old Oak Common, was won at the last election by Conservative Angie Bray, who is standing for re-election.

Labour’s Rupa Huq — older sister of former Blue Peter presenter Konnie — needs a swing of 3.9 per cent to oust her. The constituency is on Labour’s target list and the party was ahead in a December poll by Lord Ashcroft, by 40 per cent to 34 per cent.

It also showed increases for Ukip and the Greens but since then both may have been squeezed, according to more recent London and national surveys.

The NHS is top of Ms Huq’s campaign. The sociology lecturer at Kingston University promises to fight for Ealing Hospital’s maternity unit, which is threatened with closure despite the area having the third highest birth rate in London. She said the health service and the closure of local A&E units are top of people’s concerns.

But Ms Bray accused Ms Huq of trying to turn the race into a “one-issue campaign”. She said constituents rarely tell her they are worried about the NHS, although she has campaigned against A&E closures, and added: “I don’t think that people are lying in bed fretting in the way my opponent would like them to be.”

She argues that many of her constituents do not see Ealing Hospital’s maternity unit as their first choice, and would prefer to give birth in Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital or West Middlesex, which she said are getting extra resources. Crime and anti-social behaviour are what people on the doorstep are worried about, she said.

But the campaign’s key issues were hardly mentioned when Mr Johnson and Izzard pulled into town. The Mayor — an hour late because the Central line was suspended — was mobbed by selfie-hunters and requests for high-fives.

ONE shopper, misunderstanding his role as cheerleader for Ms Bray, shouted: “I will only vote for you if you will be Prime Minister”, while another shouted “Vote Green” at Conservative supporters.

Mr Johnson, who is standing in nearby seat Uxbridge and South Ruislip, rammed home the message that the Tories will protect the economy, at a meeting of local business owners. Alex Wrethman, owner of Charlotte’s Place restaurant in Ealing, was convinced, saying he will vote Conservative because “we have seen a big improvement in the last five years”.

On the NHS, Mr Johnson said: “The only way to have the NHS that we need is to have a strong and growing economy and the only way to do that I think is to vote Conservative.”

Walking around nearby Haven Green, Izzard disagreed. He said the NHS is “obviously” not safe in David Cameron’s hands. “If you want to safeguard it and want 20,000 more nurses and 8,000 more doctors you need to vote Labour on 7th May,” he said.

Wearing black stiletto heels and a pencil skirt, Izzard spoke to people about legal aid, tuition fees and the high cost of living. Mandana Khosravi, originally from Iran, is one person who has made up her mind. She will vote Labour as they “do better for the whole nation. Over the last five years I didn’t see anything that is good for everybody. My daughter was born here and I want a better home and NHS for her.”

Ms Huq, who describes herself as a Muslim with humanist tendencies, identifies as a member of the “squeezed middle”. Part of her appeal, she believes, is that she went to school in the area and is raising her family here: “It is not a stepping stone to Westminster for me. This is where I was before and where I will be after this,” she said.

For undecided student Victoria MacDonald, 19, the local link is important. “Rupa Huq went to my school and I have met her sister a few times and it is nice to have some kind of connection,” she said. She is also tempted to vote Labour because of their policy of cutting tuition fees to £6,000. Like Barbora Mohammed, Miss MacDonald can expect a lot more attention from politicians as she makes her mind up over the next three weeks.

Constituency Focus: Ealing Central and West Acton

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