Stepney Green

St Dunstans and Stepney Green ward in Tower Hamlets are electing their new councillor today. Oliur Rahman is standing for Respect, having topped the Greater London Assembly poll across the borough. From the ward-by-ward breakdown, just released by London Elects, Respect received 30% of the vote in St Dunstans, comfortably ahead of Labour (on 19%), Tories, Lib Dems and the Green party. This has made canvassing an absolute doddle: people have not only heard of us, but voted for us before and will do so again. It is difficult to say across the whole ward how much of  that 30% GLA vote will transfer to this poll, but the signs are reasonably encouraging. Amongst them, local Labour MP Oona King has apparently been spotted in the constituency attempting to drum up support. If she's as good at persuading her constituents to continue voting Labour as she was at persuading them to support the invasion of Iraq, Respect should be sorted.