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20 January 2005

IWCA announces working class candidate for Oxford East

The Independent Working Class Association today announced its candidate for the Oxford East constituency at the forthcoming General Election.

Maurice Leen—IWCA parliamentary

candidate for Oxford East.

Maurice Leen, 38, who lives in Cowley with his wife and two children, was elected to receive the party nomination at a recent Oxford IWCA meeting.

‘At the General Election people across the UK will have the choice of the same three main parties, all of which have similar policies and the same anti-working class agenda. I’m standing in Oxford so that here at least there is the choice of a working class candidate who is prepared to fight for the interests of working class people,’ said Maurice.

He continued, ‘I intend to use the election campaign to bring the issues that most affect ordinary people in Oxford to the forefront of public debate and highlight the relentless attack on working class lifestyles and livelihoods that has been going on for more than two decades.’

Overall Oxford is a prosperous city but it is also a divided city. It has areas of high overall deprivation. 14 of its 24 wards fall in the worst 25% in England in terms of housing deprivation indices, and 7 wards in the worst 10%.

Average unemployment is below the national average at 1.9% in June 2003 but parts of the south and east of the city have levels of around 4%. With its two universities, Oxford has a well qualified population, but it also has the lowest rate of successful university applicants in the country (Audit Commission, Comprehensive Performance Assessment: Oxford City Council, 2004).

This is clearly not apparent to many outsiders. Nor does it seem to figure highly in the thinking of Oxford’s political and cultural elite.

The Oxford Inspires European Capital of Culture bid, funded at not inconsiderable expense by the city and county councils along with Oxford University, described many aspects of the city—from the architecture of ‘Britain’s oldest university’ and punting on the Cherwell to Oxford’s laboratories, science parks and biotech companies.

Oxford’s working class, however, do not feature in the vision of present and future set out in the bid. While paying lip service to the ‘excitingly culturally diverse eastern end of the city’, the 48-page document does not mention the phrase ‘working class’ once.

Oxford was the only competitor for the City of Culture title that failed to include any significant plans for regeneration in its working class areas.

‘The fact that Labour, Lib Dems and the Greens backed this vision, with the working class airbrushed out of existence, is no surprise,’ explained Maurice Leen, ‘To a large extent we are invisible and the main political parties prefer it this way.

‘The shortage of affordable accommodation has increasingly pushed working class people to the outskirts of the city—as far as the authorities are concerned, out of sight and out of mind.

‘Labour has controlled the city council for over two decades but has done little other than make a big noise about the need for new homes. In the meantime the Labour government has taken over the Conservative’s policy of running down council housing and other essential services with renewed enthusiasm.

‘More and more areas have fallen prey to drug dealers and antisocial crime, with a deteriorating local environment and council homes in a shocking state of repair. If nothing is done to stop this decline then these conditions will only spread to other working class areas in the city.

‘IWCA-backed campaigns with residents in a number of places in Oxford have shown that these problems are not insurmountable if people come together to tackle them.’

About the candidate

Maurice Leen is a founder member of Oxford IWCA and is well known on Blackbird Leys as the housing adviser at our weekly surgeries and as a regular contributor to the Leys Independent. He has also been at the forefront of many local campaigns and political initiatives.

In 1998, through his hard work and perseverance, Maurice was instrumental in getting a successful Self-Build scheme up and running in Peppercorn Avenue, Wood Farm, providing an opportunity for a number of local residents on low incomes to take part in building their own homes.

Having learnt the plastering trade from his father while still at school, which involved labouring in the holidays and at weekends, Maurice later switched to carpentry and subsequently earned his living in the building game until 1999, taking a drop in wages to pursue his interest in advice work.

As an advice worker at the Claimants Union in Princes Street, East Oxford, he became an expert on pensions, employment rights, housing and other entitlements. It was of course from here that he picked up many of the skills that Blackbird Leys residents still benefit from today at councillor’s surgeries.

Maurice is now a tenant support worker for an Oxfordshire housing association and is also studying law part-time at Oxford Brookes. The acquired expertise will once again be used to help further the interests of working class communities in East Oxford.

In his spare time Maurice enjoys live music, digging at his allotment down by the BMW plant, and making furniture.