A local charity worker and school governor, Maeve McCormack, has been selected as the Labour candidate for the Gospel Oak by-election on Thursday 14 March.

Maeve McCormark is a Camden resident, local charity worker and governor at St Dominic’s primary school in Gospel Oak

Maeve won the backing of Gospel Oak Labour members after a democratic selection meeting held over the weekend and will now campaign to fill the vacancy left by Sean Birch’s decision to stand down from Camden council for personal reasons.

Maeve McCormack is a local Camden resident and works in the borough for a charity that provides care and support for people with incurable and long-term conditions. She is active in the Gospel Oak community as a governor for just over a year at St Dominic’s primary school on Southampton Road in the ward.

Maeve McCormack said, “I am really looking forward to getting out and about in the community to meet more Gospel Oak residents and listen to their views. I will stand up for Gospel Oak on the issues that make a difference to local people: the Tory plan to close our local fire station, the loss of local police officers, and the threat to sell off the Whittington hospital.

“Having worked with families in Gospel Oak for a while now as a governor at St Dominic’s I know how hard life is getting for many local people. Bills for food and fuel are rising, young people can’t get jobs, and some families are even being forced to move out of London due to government cuts. Gospel Oak deserves better.

“We can make a difference by working together and I will be a strong voice who knows how to get things done for local people. We need local regeneration that brings the homes and improvements that Gospel Oak residents want, an effective fire and police service to protect Gospel Oak, and to stand up against the vicious Tory agenda on jobs, the NHS and welfare that is doing such harm to our area.”

You can follow Maeve on Twitter at @mccormackmaeve and get updates on the campaign from @CamdenLabour. The campaign hashtag is #GOMaeve.

Labour supporters and organisations who want to join the campaign should email GOMaeve@gmail.com with offers of help. We will be door-knocking and delivering Monday-Thursday at 6.30pm and on Saturdays and Sundays at 11am and 2pm. Special arrangements on bank holidays.

Maddy Raman has been chosen as the local Labour Party’s candidate for the Hampstead Town by-election on Thursday 27 September 2012.  The vacancy arose when one of the most capable Tory councillors in Camden decided to step down to move to America.

Key issues in the campaign will be:

• local opposition to the Lib Dem/Tory government’s top-down re-organisation of the NHS, which affects the local Royal Free hospital
• Tory plans to close down and sell-off Hampstead police station
• supporting Hampstead’s vibrant High Street amidst the double-dip recession

Maddy Raman said, “Living locally on South Hill Park, I know what matters to residents in Hampstead Town.

“My wife and I live next door to, and use, the shops of South End Green.  I want to do all I can to help them survive in these tough economic times.

Camden council has announced a legal challenge to the Secretary of State for Transport over flawed proposals for the High Speed 2 rail project, which will devastate the borough.

In a letter published in the Camden New Journal, Lazzaro Pietragnoli, Labour candidate for the Camden Town with Primrose Hill by-election (pictured below), said:

“Although there is nothing corrupt in the series of private talks between senior representatives of the government (including the Prime Minister) and bosses of HS2 developers, Arup Ltd (New Journal, March 29); they do offer a pretty damning contrast to the attitude so far shown to local residents in Camden concerned about these plans.

These plans will devastate our borough.  When local people, including in my own area of Primrose Hill, tried to raise concerns about the social, economic and environmental impact of the project, what did they get as a response? Not an invitation to supper at Number 10, but a dearth of information plus a series of poorly organised forums that the press and some members of the public were apparently banned from attending.  This is unacceptable.  These concerns are not matter of party allegiance, as demonstrated very well by the unusual alliance between 15 local councils, many of them run by the Conservatives, that are challenging the government in court. Camden is among them and is rightly defending the interests of its residents.

Hundreds of homes, many local streets, small businesses and even a school will be destroyed if the project goes ahead as it is at the moment. We do not want simply to tinker around the edges; we want the project to be at the very least fundamentally revised and we want our local representatives to have a formal say on it.  Most of all, we want the Government to listen to the people on whom the project will be imposed and not only the companies that stand to profit.”

Published and promoted by P Jones on behalf of Lazzaro Pietragnoli and Camden Labour Party, all at 110 Gloucester Avenue, London NW1 8HX

The Camden Labour Party have selected Lazzaro Pietragnoli as their candidate for the forthcoming Camden Town with Primrose Hill by-election on 3 May.

Lazzaro Pietragnoli first moved to Primrose Hill in 2004 and currently lives in the heart of the area with his wife and four year old son. He works as a journalist for a range of British and international publications and has been a key activist on the campaign to save Chalk Farm library.

Lazzaro said, “I’m really looking forward to meeting more of my neighbours in this by-election campaign. I’ve already been out and about talking to people in both Camden Town and Primrose Hill and they are concerned about the recent cutbacks to our police support officers, the threat of High Speed 2 to our area, and how we can best protect local services from government cuts.”

For several months Lazzaro has worked with other local people on the Chalk Farm library steering committee. The group ensured that a credible bid was proposed to the council to guarantee the library’s financial sustainability through the generous support of local donors. Lazzaro remains involved to make sure the library is preserved under a new community management model that the council has introduced.

Lazzaro added, “Both Camden Town and Primrose Hill are unique areas and I love living in such a special place. I am proud of our lively diversity, our social cohesion and our beautiful open spaces. However we cannot take any of them for granted in such difficult times so I am determined to stand up for local residents against the threats we face.”

“Having been involved in various activities for the local community, and in particular working with other local people this past year to help save Chalk Farm library from closure proved to me that we can achieve a lot when we get together and fight to protect the things we care about. This is the approach that I would take if I was elected as local councillor and the basis on which I will ask local people for their support.”

Published and promoted by Phil Jones on behalf of Camden Labour all at 110 Gloucester Avenue, London, NW1 8HX.