Become a Member
News

Too close to call? Ilford North is the seat on a knife-edge, again

With a wafer-thin majority of just 589 for Labour’s Wes Streeting in the 2015 general election, none of the main candidates in Ilford North can afford to underestimate the importance of around 4,500 Jewish votes up for grabs next week.

June 2, 2017 08:37
Labour's Wes Streeting will be fighting to keep the seat (Photo: PA)
3 min read

As David Miliband, the former Foreign Secretary, said in his social media video message recorded in support of Mr Streeting: “Everyone knows that Ilford North is going to be close.”

Mr Streeting told the JC this week: “I think during the past couple of years, people have seen that I’ve poured my heart and soul into being a good constituency MP — as well as one of Parliament’s most active MPs.

“I’m a fighter for our community — from opposing the closure of A&E at King George Hospital to opposing school cuts threatening every primary school in Ilford North. People have seen that I’m not a ‘yes man’ who just toes the party line. I know who I work for: the people of Ilford North, no one else.”

But as Mr Streeting, a vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism, is only too aware, the issue of his leader Jeremy Corbyn could prove just as important a factor on the doorstep — especially among Jewish voters for whom the party head remains a repellent figure.