Munira Wilson selected to fight the SW London Assembly seat (Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats)

Munira Wilson selected to fight the SW London Assembly seat

July 1, 2011 10:05 AM

MHWilson • [July 01] Andrew Horsler* writes: CONGRATULATIONS to Munira Wilson, who was last night selected as Liberal Democrat candidate for the GLA South West constituency.

We were fortunate to have three excellent potential candidates in Munira, Roger Crouch and Robin Meltzer, all of whom fought enthusiastic campaigns and are a credit to the party. Our thanks go to all three of them.

As Munira has written, "The hard work begins now....."

* Local Party Secretary

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• Munira Wilson writes: LONDON is where my heart is - I was born and bred here and have lived in this fantastic capital city all my life. It would be a privilege to be given the opportunity to stand for, and indeed get elected to, the body that oversees many aspects of what makes London so great . . I want to see South West London represented by someone who will hold the Mayor to account and stand up for every corner of the patch. Sadly, the local Tory GLA member, Tony Arbour, has failed abysmally and it's time for a change. I will stand up for liberal values and progressive policies to make South West London a greener and fairer place to live.

• At City Hall I will make transport my number one priority, given the impact of fare hikes on outer London and Boris's cuts to the bus budget, which particularly hurt in a constituency with a number of areas served neither by train nor tube.

• I will campaign to protect police numbers, as well as Safer Neighbourhood Teams by cutting waste and promoting accessible, community-based Police "counters", where appropriate.

• With Boris missing his own targets for affordable housing and the spiralling house prices in many parts of South West London, I will call for action to bring empty homes back into use and ensure all new developments include affordable units.

• Having previously campaigned against the expansion of Heathrow, I will continue to champion environmental causes, particularly air pollution in the west end of the constituency, caused by the heavy traffic movement around the airport, which has such a detrimental impact on health.

I will work tirelessly with teams across all three boroughs and all five constituencies to ensure that we deliver an outstanding result, despite the electoral challenges we are facing at a national level. Lib Dems across Richmond, Kingston and Hounslow are achieving great things locally and holding both the Tories and Labour to account. We need to highlight these achievements, alongside our successes within the coalition, and make our distinctive Liberal Democrat voice heard again across South West London.