Tory mayor candidate views Black folks with suspicion, Labour alleges
Ms Hall’s marketing campaign staff mentioned the letter consisted of “desperate smears and a complete mischaracterisation” of feedback she had made previously.
The letter was despatched to Tory celebration chairman Greg Hands by Brent Central MP Dawn Butler and signed by 9 of Labour’s different London MPs. It focuses on feedback made lately by Ms Hall in regards to the Notting Hill Carnival.
The feedback, criticised earlier this week by shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, embody Ms Hall describing the carnival as “dangerous” and saying it places native residents by “hell”.
The Tory meeting member and former Harrow council chief has repeatedly mentioned the occasion must be moved away from its Notting Hill location, the place it has been held since 1966.
When it returned to the streets after Covid final yr, Ms Hall mentioned: “Of course police officers dread it, there is always violence and they put themselves in danger at every Notting Hill carnival. The cost of policing it is eye-watering. How long will it be allowed to continue in this way? Crazy.”
She has additionally described the carnival in constructive phrases nonetheless, tweeting in 2019 that it’s “an incredible event”, albeit one which has “become too big for its venue”.
Two million people are expected to attend the west London pageant – which celebrates Caribbean tradition and group – over the financial institution vacation weekend.
In her letter to Mr Hands, Ms Butler wrote: “Your mayoral candidate seems convinced of the innate criminality of Black people and has repeatedly implied that our community has a propensity toward violence and disorder, saying that Black people have a ‘problem with crime’.”
She requested Mr Hands to “require that Susan Hall withdraws her comments and issues a public apology to Londoners”, in addition to calling on him to “publicly condemn and distance the Conservative Party from these comments and views”.
Dawn Butler MP, who on Friday wrote to Tory celebration chairman Greg Hands about Susan Hall’s feedback
/ PA ArchiveShe added: “Black Londoners deserve a mayoral candidate who celebrates alongside our community, rather than viewing us with suspicion. Susan Hall is not that candidate and we both know that full well.”
Responding, a spokesman for Ms Hall’s marketing campaign mentioned: “These are determined smears and a whole mischaracterisation of what Susan mentioned.
“In a dialogue about restoring belief within the police for black Londoners, Susan known as for the Met Police to offer extra assist and assist to black communities, who usually tend to be victims of crime or to think about crime to be a major problem of their space.
“Susan absolutely helps Notting Hill Carnival and believes it must be protected by making the route safer, as Ken Livingstone known as for in 2004.
“Londoners deserve higher than this gutter politics from Sadiq Khan and his buddies, which serves solely to distract from his disastrous Ulez growth plans and create but extra division and polarisation in our metropolis.”
Ms Hall’s suggestion that the parade be moved to another location was previously floated by Labour mayor Ken Livingstone, but he faced opposition to the idea of moving it to Hyde Park.
Last year, the Met Police Federation also called for the route to be changed, saying they did not have the resources to police it effectively. At 2022’s carnival, one person was fatally stabbed, more than 70 police were injured and 200 arrests were made.
Along with Dawn Butler, the other Labour MPs to have put their name to the letter are:
- Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse)
- Stella Creasy (Walthamstow)
- John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead)
- Marsha de Cordova (Battersea)
- John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington)
- Kate Osamor (Edmonton)
- Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Streatham)
- Virendra Sharma (Ealing Southall)
- Sam Tarry (Ilford South)
Ms Hall, selected as the party’s mayoral candidate last month, will be going up against Labour’s Sadiq Khan in the election on May 2, 2024. Mr Khan, elected in 2016, is running for an historic third time period.