Laura Parker, the national coordinator of Corbynite activist network Momentum, has joined Labour’s selection race in Enfield North. She will seek to win the seat currently represented by Joan Ryan, now sitting as a Change UK MP after quitting Labour in February.
The anti-Brexit campaigner and Labour left organiser lives in Vauxhall, and was expected to stand in the selection contest there. The local party in south London is looking to replace Kate Hoey, who is stepping down as a Labour MP at the next election.
But according to a source close to Parker, she was asked to stand in Enfield North instead by young local activists and assessed that there were already strong candidates from the left in the running in Vauxhall.
Announcing her candidacy today, Parker said: “The establishment will come for us with all they’ve got. The tax avoiders, dodgy landlords and oil barons who destroy our climate. They know Labour is on the side of ordinary people. They know we’ll take them on, and we’ll win.
“As Momentum’s national coordinator, I’ve been part of a movement that has stood up to the establishment. Now I want to take our movement into parliament.
“I’m ready to represent Enfield North, back Jeremy Corbyn and help implement the most ambitious, transformational programme this country has ever seen. Nobody voted for an Eton educated millionaire to hijack our democracy, force through a no deal Brexit and sell off our public services to US corporations, and I look forward to campaigning against him at a general election.”
Parker was joined by young members for her first phone banking session last night:
Happy to have started campaigning yesterday – with a great team of volunteers – to be selected as Labour’s candidate for Enfield North.#LP4MP pic.twitter.com/ZX9MT0a5xx
— Laura Parker (@ParkerCiccone) September 11, 2019
LabourList will be posting a ‘runners and riders’ list for Enfield North soon. Get in touch via email with any tips on who might be interested in the seat…
More from LabourList
Rochdale Labour says brick thrown at candidate’s home with ‘f*** Labour’ note
‘Frank’s poverty mission lives on at his charity – but he’d scrap two-child cap’
‘I disagreed with Frank Field, but he was no Tory and I loved him all the same’