Harrow residents demand change

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Harrow residents demand change

12.03.2010 // by Annie Quick

Last Wednesday I went with some Power2010 volunteers and Harrow residents to talk to people outside Harrow's central shopping center about democracy, politics and their local MP Tony McNulty.

The response was impressive. Either people hadn't heard of their MP at all (something which I've found is very common) or they almost unanimously hated him with a vengeance.

People were keen to tell stories about his indifference to local residents' ideas for their local park, their anger at his voting record in parliament and his betrayal of voters over expenses.

Local resident Adbul told me "It's ridiculous that McNulty is standing even though he's made it clear through his abuse of expenses that he has no respect for voters and isn't interested in integrity.

We need a real democracy where we can hold these politicians to account - but it's no wonder he's not interested in encouraging it."

Rumman Khan, who has lived in Harrow for 5 years, said: "When MPs betray peoples' trust and exploit the system it should not be overlooked, and they should face the same kind of consequences that ordinary people face."

A number of residents posed for photos with a ‘Wanted' poster for Tony McNulty and took them home to put in their windows.

But there was also a sense that McNulty was just a symptom of a wider problem. When I asked people what could be done about Tony McNulty their response was often "Well, he's a politician isn't he? They'll always be like this if they can get away with it". And when we asked people to write a message to their candidates on a pink balloon we not only found people writing "Sort it out or get out" but also "Let's bring respect back into politics" and "Introduce a better voting system and scrap the Lords."

One of my favorite came from a woman who thought very hard for a while and then wrote "Don't forget why you went into politics. Where has your idealism gone?"

I ended the day invigorated that not all is lost. People are angry, and they're out there. The Harrow Times has already covered the campaign in their area with the headline "MP accused of crimes against democracy". As we step it up over the next week any politician wanting to get elected in Harrow will quickly learn that voters want change, and they know that the old politics isn't working.