This year Newham Conservatives are running the strongest campaign that we have ever run in Newham. We are doing this because, like many of you, we believe change is urgently needed in Newham, a place where the Labour Party holds the Mayoralty and 60 out of 60 council seats.

We have made considerable efforts to reach out to everyone in the borough. This is why we have Conservative candidates representing nearly 20 ethnic / national identities, including the UK, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Poland, Slovenia, Holland, Estonia and Jamaica. This has enabled us to canvass not just in English, but also in, amongst others, French, Portuguese, Swahili, Luganda, Twi, Krio, Mandinka (spoken by our election agent), Tamil, Gujurati, Urdu, Bengali and Punjabi, thereby reaching out to as many people as possible in Newham, which is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse places in the UK.

Acutely aware of not just Newham’s ethnic diversity, but also of our borough’s religious diversity, we have candidates who are, amongst others, Christian, Hindu, Muslim and of no religion. We have attended a Sikh festival and visited (and spoke in) churches, mosques and temples. In doing so we have listened to (and will continue to listen to) the concerns of all groups during such visits, but have also made clear that whilst we will seek to address specific issues, we will not unduly favour any one group over the other. That would be wrong.

We have candidates who are self-employed, unemployed, single parents, and candidates who have young children, disabled children, and no children. With our message about hard work and desire to improve Newham’s schools, we have promoted a message that those with immigrant backgrounds are particularly impressed with. We have also found huge support from small businesses as well as those who have lived in the borough for decades and have had enough of the Labour Party.

We believe passionately in the importance of Newham’s residents integrating properly into British society and that means, above all, ensuring they have a good standard of English. That is why we wish to offer free English language lessons to any Newham resident who wants them, but also wish to incentivise them to use the English language in the borough. By integrating effectively, newcomers not only lead a more fulfilling life, but also enrich Newham’s diverse culture to an even greater extent.

Every home in the borough that we could access has received a Mayoral leaflet which is entirely in English. Virtually every home has also received a ward leaflet, again entirely in English. In an effort to reach out to our diverse population, we have also distributed Newham-specific leaflets to European voters (entirely in English) and speakers of Portuguese (in Portuguese), for example.

All leaflets from Newham Conservatives contain an official imprint which includes (as a minimum) details of our election agent.

We are aware that certain groups have taken it upon themselves to produce their own leaflets which in certain cases refer to the Conservative Party and certain Labour and Conservative candidates. This is deeply regrettable. These leaflets do not contain Newham Conservatives’ imprint and have nothing to do with the Conservative Party, Newham Conservatives or any of our candidates. We do not support such leaflets and it goes without saying that we utterly condemn anything which seeks to unfairly represent or attack anyone. This is totally unacceptable and has no place in Newham’s politics.

We look forward to your support on Thursday 22 May.

Yours sincerely,
Newham Conservatives