Cllr Ameet Jogia, for Canons Ward, Harrow has been re-elected in the local council elections by the people of Harrow. It is imperative to note that Harrow Council was the only council in the UK to go from Labour to Conservative.
On this historic win, speaking exclusively to Asian Voice, Cllr Ameet Jogia said, “Our victory in Harrow was symbolic for the Party as it was the only Council that the Conservatives gained across the entire country. Our victory against the national trend was largely down to our engagement with Harrow’s British Indian community – which is the largest in the UK. It reflected the success of our engagement with the British Indian community that the Conservative Party best represents the shared values of the community.
“Conservative Friends of India has been successfully working for years to help bridge the gap between the Party and the British Indian community. We have seen the British Indian vote share go up for Conservatives in Harrow year on year from each General Election since 2010. In 2019, local MP Bob Blackman received the largest majority in London. Harrow also had the largest Conservative vote share for both Zac Goldsmith and Shaun Bailey’s recent Mayoral elections.
“This shows that the British Indian vote in Harrow is solidifying. However, our engagement programme with all communities is long term and we must never take any vote for granted.”
When asked how the Conservative party has won the trust of people in Harrow, especially when it comes to 'low traffic neighbourhoods’, Jogia explained, “In August 2020, the government-supported TFL to implement traffic calming opportunities to protect people during the peak of the pandemic. These proposals were presented to Harrow in the form of Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes, where certain key roads would be made one way to ease congestion.
“The Conservative group immediately took proactive steps to consult the impact of the LTNs with local residents in August 2020. Residents were not keen, and we took steps to withdraw this proposal from Conservative wards, including Canons and Stanmore. It was unfortunate that Labour decided to implement the schemes in their represented wards (despite widespread opposition).
“Once the costly schemes were implemented, they were difficult to withdraw. This led to months of anguish and one of Harrow – and London’s – biggest campaigns against a traffic scheme. At the time, Labour voters were disappointed that their Labour Councillors did not listen to them at the beginning. Instead, Labour Councillors kept in the schemes for over 18 months. The schemes were eventually removed after another consultation (which again showed unpopularity for the schemes). The withdrawal costs thousands and reflected Labour’s inefficiency in both money and time. This played a huge role in residents trusting a Conservative council to deliver, which was reflected in the recent election results.”
