Heels to rival Theresa May’s hit the campaign trail today days ahead of the general election.
Transvestite stand-up comic Eddie Izzard sauntered down The Broadway with Labour Party candidate Catherine West on a return visit to Crouch End after playing gigs in the King’s Head during his early career.
Pointing towards the pub, he said: “I cut my teeth in there. I used to say very silly things in there and now I say very sensible things. It’s a very good pub,” he said.
In reference to Hornsey Town Hall – up for a redevelopment which could see craftspeople squeezed out – and the importance of artists and performers having space to practise their art, he said: “It’s hugely important. Creativity is such an essence of British and human life. Whatever it is it needs to be a space to help people get off the ground.”
On the Town Hall plans, Catherine West explained she had written to Haringey Council chief executive Zina Etheridge urging her to ensure the community retained full, free access to the area outside the town hall and that the small businesses based there could remain.
On the level of social housing announced when the plans were made public last month, she said: “Because it was or is a public building we should be aiming for 50 per cent affordable homes. We have to be very ambitious for the site. Whether we get that will depend on the viability assessment.”
Asked for her views on the council’s proposal to privatise £2bn worth of land and estates, she said all affected tenants should have the right to a lifetime tenancy or to return to their original home.
She also called for half of all new build homes to be sold at affordable rents of 30pc of the private rental sector and that community centres remain.
When asked if she would be a strong challenger to a Labour led council, she drew attention to her record on securing the building of affordable homes and responsibility to represent constituents in parliament.
“My track record is one of challenge. Unlike my predecessor who made part of her identity attacking the council, I don’t think that’s constructive,” she said.
“It’s about cultural change and developing more of a listening culture.”
The other candidates standing in Hornsey and Wood Green are:
- Nimco Ali of Women’s Equality Party
- Dawn Barnes of the Liberal Democrats
- Emma Lane of the Conservative Party
- Anna Athow of the Workers’ Revolutionary Party
- Sam Hall of the Green Party
- Ruth Price of Ukip
- Helen Spiby-Vann of the Christian Peoples Alliance
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