But we are building in a place where the Tories are too scared to show their face, even though they are pumping out literature that doesn’t have the word Conservative on it.” Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardianĭuring a pep-talk, Dodds told the canvassers: “You know how difficult this byelection is for us, a 7,000 majority in a place that people said could never ever be Labour. The MP Anneliese Dodds joins party activists canvassing for the Labour candidate, Danny Beales. Important, too, was what they described as his record of “delivery” – a reference to a local police station in Uxbridge that was saved from closure after Khan intervened. More positively, they were to emphasise that Beales, a councillor and charity worker, was a local resident and had a backstory that included being raised by a single parent and someone who had experienced homelessness. In a heavily car-reliant constituency – where London meets the home counties and there are farms as well as tube stations – the anti-Ulez message is one that continues to be hammered home by the Tory candidate, Steve Tuckwell, a local councillor and business consultant, in his campaign literature and in targeted Facebook advertising.īeales’ response – which puts him at odds with Khan – has been to call for a delay to the expansion, a position his campaign organisers reminded canvassers about on Monday as they prepared to knock on doors where “Ulez might come up”. It’s not ideal, but we’ll just have to get on the bus I suppose and rely on friends,” said the 63-year-old, on her way home to be with her husband, who has dementia. We’ve just got rid of our car, because it’s just not going to be worth it. “I won’t be voting Labour, no, and it’s because of Ulez charge that’s coming. Minutes earlier, the anger among some at Ulez expansion – the plan to expand the £12.50 daily charge for motor vehicles that do not meet the required emissions standards to all London boroughs from 29 August – was underlined by Carol Bell. I’m fortunate in my own background, but I’ve seen enough to come across people who really are struggling and that’s what’s important to me.”Ĭarol Bell, 63, said she would not be voting for Labour because of the Ulez expansion. “Politics is something I’m really interested in and I keep in touch with what the parties are offering. “I always wanted to join the police and, when I did, it was after Sarah Everard’s death, so I’m conscious that there is so much responsibility,” she said.

Born in 2003, a pivotal year of the last Labour government, the voter was a recently recruited police officer who was eager to share her views about public services. Not long into the canvassing, an encounter that might have come straight out of central casting for a Starmer campaign clip unfolded when a young woman passing by stopped to engage Dodds in conversation.

On a sunny lunchtime this week, the different prospects for Labour were reflected by two voters, as the the frontbencher Anneliese Dodds joined party activists canvassing newbuild blocks near South Ruislip. The Labour frontbencher Anneliese Dodds, left, canvasses in South Ruislip, west London.

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