Abdullah Kahlaf [Photos: Adrian Zorzuk, LDRS]

RESIDENTS in a seat tipped to change hands to Labour at the general election are split on whether the party is a more attractive prospect under Sir Keir Starmer.

The Cities of London and Westminster is one of a number of seats in the capital predicted to be won by Labour on July 4.

It was held by retiring Conservative Nickie Aiken, who was elected with a majority of just under 4,000 votes in the 2019 election.

The redrawn seat, which covers most of the City of Westminster and the City of London, will now include the wards of Abbey Road and Regent’s Park.

Residents spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service about the key issues and concerns for them.

Abdullah Kahlaf is aged 47 and works in real estate in Edgware Road.

He said he usually votes Labour but may swing to the Green Party this time.

He said he was worried about the state of the National Health Service and recounted how he and his daughter recently spent five-and-a-half hours in hospital waiting to be seen.

He said he feels Labour no longer represents the working class and wants to raise taxes.

Ebelyn, 95, is a retired doctor who has lived in the Abbey Road ward for 20 years
She said she backed the Green Party in the 2019 general election but that Labour had been “revived” under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.

Diya Mirpuri said she cannot vote at the forthcoming election but that she would back Labour if she could.
Originally from Spain, she has lived in the United Kingdom for 35 years and feels Labour’s pledge to bust people-smuggling gangs in Calais is the best way to deal with illegal immigration into this country.

Now, she and her husband are “fed up” with the UK and contemplating moving to Spain but added she is completely opposed to the Conservative government’s proposal to process migrants in Rwanda. “It’s inhumane. I’m sick of the Conservatives and I am sick of what this country is becoming. I am so unhappy I want to move back to Spain,” she said.

Tarig Mohamed, who is 58, said Labour looks after “the disabled man, the small man” and said he also opposed the government’s Rwanda policy. He wants to see more funding channeled to vital services like Citizens Advice.

Charlie, who has lived in Pimlico for 20 years, is an immigration officer who says he doesn’t see the point of voting.
He said: “I don’t believe in it. You’re squabbling over little things. Nothing is going to change.”

He hasn’t voted in a single general election but that doesn’t mean that hasn’t got opinions on how the country should be run.

The NHS, he said, should prioritise hiring British nurses and he fears that wage rises will only lead to inflation.
Brexit, he thinks, was a “waste”, adding: “Other than the traffic at Dover, what has it brought?”

He believes the immigration system isn’t fit-for-purpose.

He said: “All the idiots get caught out but all the criminally-minded don’t. The system is set up to catch the weak, not the criminal.”

Voting for Reform UK is tempting to him but he doesn’t believe its leader, Nigel Farage, has what it takes to manage the country, and he added: “Nothing I have seen shows he can handle it. He stirs the pot and stands back and lets others figure it out. He’s a commentator.”

Wiktor, 30, has lived in the Barbican Estate – the constituency’s eastern point – for two years and says he wants political leaders to push for a ceasefire in Gaza.

This will be the Polish-born resident’s first time voting in a UK general election and he’s considering supporting the Liberal Democrats.

And he said of the Labour Party: “They’re not as decisive as they have been in the past.”

Greg McLean, who is 48, says that he has voted for the Liberal Democrats since 2010.

Greg feels the main parties are not talking about the economic impacts of Brexit on the economy.

He is worried about the environment and feels political parties have watered down their green policy pledges.

And on those policies, he says: “We used to be leading Paris and Copenhagen… but now we’re not.”

He urges whoever takes power after July 4 to keep London’s ultra low emission zone in place and improve childcare for working parents.

And he adds that he would like a Member of Parliament who focused on making the Barbican Estate more “walker-friendly”.