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| Labour’s win in Kensington reflects the area’s huge disparities of wealth | Labour’s win in Kensington reflects the area’s huge disparities of wealth |
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| Mon 12 Jun 2017 16.56 BST | |
| Last modified on Fri 15 Sep 2017 20.19 BST | |
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| The last result of the election was declared on Friday evening. After three recounts, and a break to address the tiredness of the tellers, the seat was won by a margin of only 20 votes. For the first time ever Kensington, the country’s richest constituency, has a Labour MP. | The last result of the election was declared on Friday evening. After three recounts, and a break to address the tiredness of the tellers, the seat was won by a margin of only 20 votes. For the first time ever Kensington, the country’s richest constituency, has a Labour MP. |
| I grew up in Ladbroke Grove and never expected to see this day. My family are staunch Labour supporters but we have voted through force of habit rather than anything else. What was the point? For as long as we could remember only the Conservatives had been in power here. | I grew up in Ladbroke Grove and never expected to see this day. My family are staunch Labour supporters but we have voted through force of habit rather than anything else. What was the point? For as long as we could remember only the Conservatives had been in power here. |
| While a terraced house sells, on average, for £4.3m in Kensington, it is also an area with significant social housing and marked inequality. Just behind a development of new townhouses selling for more than £2m there live a group of homeless people. In 2011 in my family’s ward of Golborne, the rate of overcrowding in households was three times higher than the lowest figure in the constituency. In wider Kensington and Chelsea the borough had one of the highest rates of households in temporary accommodation in London in 2015 – a far cry from the leafy streets of South Kensington. | While a terraced house sells, on average, for £4.3m in Kensington, it is also an area with significant social housing and marked inequality. Just behind a development of new townhouses selling for more than £2m there live a group of homeless people. In 2011 in my family’s ward of Golborne, the rate of overcrowding in households was three times higher than the lowest figure in the constituency. In wider Kensington and Chelsea the borough had one of the highest rates of households in temporary accommodation in London in 2015 – a far cry from the leafy streets of South Kensington. |
| Living in the less wealthy north of the constituency we always felt it was unrealistic to hope for political change here. Everyone had heard of South Kensington but North Kensington tended to be ignored. Because some of the country’s most expensive residential streets are in this constituency, those worst off are often forgotten – the people who live in social housing, the young kids circling the streets on their bikes, the elderly people living on their own. Even when the annual Notting Hill carnival has been and gone, the streets of Holland Park always seem to be clear of rubbish and the smell of urine long before our area. | Living in the less wealthy north of the constituency we always felt it was unrealistic to hope for political change here. Everyone had heard of South Kensington but North Kensington tended to be ignored. Because some of the country’s most expensive residential streets are in this constituency, those worst off are often forgotten – the people who live in social housing, the young kids circling the streets on their bikes, the elderly people living on their own. Even when the annual Notting Hill carnival has been and gone, the streets of Holland Park always seem to be clear of rubbish and the smell of urine long before our area. |
| Despite the poverty around me I was content as a child. I only had to cross the road to get to school and it wasn’t until I was older that I realised I received free school meals because my mum’s wage as a cleaner was so low. When I was a teenager there wasn’t much for me and my friends to do. We would sometimes cause trouble, skateboarding in the children’s playground and knocking on doors in Trellick Tower before running away. At night it was no surprise to hear people fighting, or to find needles on your doorstep when you went out the next day. And yet I always felt part of a community – the neighbour who has lived next door to us for 20 years still pops by with a birthday card. | Despite the poverty around me I was content as a child. I only had to cross the road to get to school and it wasn’t until I was older that I realised I received free school meals because my mum’s wage as a cleaner was so low. When I was a teenager there wasn’t much for me and my friends to do. We would sometimes cause trouble, skateboarding in the children’s playground and knocking on doors in Trellick Tower before running away. At night it was no surprise to hear people fighting, or to find needles on your doorstep when you went out the next day. And yet I always felt part of a community – the neighbour who has lived next door to us for 20 years still pops by with a birthday card. |
| But there are people still facing problems that should have been addressed years ago. In 1999 the rate of out-of-work benefits in Golborne was the fifth-highest in the city, and in 2016 the ward still featured in the top 10. The borough’s Trussell Trust food bank has seen an increase in demand for three-day emergency food supplies over the last few years that is expected to rise because of ongoing changes in welfare benefits and persistent low incomes. How is this acceptable when other areas of Kensington experience the extreme opposite? | But there are people still facing problems that should have been addressed years ago. In 1999 the rate of out-of-work benefits in Golborne was the fifth-highest in the city, and in 2016 the ward still featured in the top 10. The borough’s Trussell Trust food bank has seen an increase in demand for three-day emergency food supplies over the last few years that is expected to rise because of ongoing changes in welfare benefits and persistent low incomes. How is this acceptable when other areas of Kensington experience the extreme opposite? |
| Because some of the country’s most expensive residential streets are here, those worst off are often forgotten | Because some of the country’s most expensive residential streets are here, those worst off are often forgotten |
| Since the constituency’s creation in 1974, and subsequently during its boundary and name changes, every election has been won by a Conservative candidate. In 2010 and 2015 the Conservative candidate here won by more than 7,000 votes. This year Labour’s Emma Dent Coad beat the Tories’ Victoria Borwick by just 20 votes – a swing of 11.11%. | Since the constituency’s creation in 1974, and subsequently during its boundary and name changes, every election has been won by a Conservative candidate. In 2010 and 2015 the Conservative candidate here won by more than 7,000 votes. This year Labour’s Emma Dent Coad beat the Tories’ Victoria Borwick by just 20 votes – a swing of 11.11%. |
| Dent Coad’s experience as a councillor in my ward for the past 11 years brings hope to all those in Kensington who have felt the inequality of living in this borough. In 2015 child poverty in North Kensington was on average 34%, with the figure rising to 43% in Golborne alone. Compare this to the lowest figure of just under 7% in Queen’s Gate, a more affluent area of the constituency. Working in one of the poorest wards in the city, Dent Coad has seen the reality of people accessing food banks, suffering from ill health and inadequate housing. | Dent Coad’s experience as a councillor in my ward for the past 11 years brings hope to all those in Kensington who have felt the inequality of living in this borough. In 2015 child poverty in North Kensington was on average 34%, with the figure rising to 43% in Golborne alone. Compare this to the lowest figure of just under 7% in Queen’s Gate, a more affluent area of the constituency. Working in one of the poorest wards in the city, Dent Coad has seen the reality of people accessing food banks, suffering from ill health and inadequate housing. |
| I hope that as an MP she will continue defending those who are less fortunate, and strive for greater equality. Her recognition of the polarisation in Kensington is one the country needs in our time of austerity. In the EU referendum, the constituency voted 68% remain, whereas Lady Borwick was in favour of leaving. Whether people voted on Brexit or local issues, Labour’s win in this seat represents the mood of those who believed in Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign and dared to hope for a better future. For those living in Kensington, this result is for the many and not the few. | I hope that as an MP she will continue defending those who are less fortunate, and strive for greater equality. Her recognition of the polarisation in Kensington is one the country needs in our time of austerity. In the EU referendum, the constituency voted 68% remain, whereas Lady Borwick was in favour of leaving. Whether people voted on Brexit or local issues, Labour’s win in this seat represents the mood of those who believed in Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign and dared to hope for a better future. For those living in Kensington, this result is for the many and not the few. |
| General election 2017 | |
| Opinion | |
| Austerity | |
| London | |
| Poverty | |
| Social exclusion | |
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