This leaflet from the Communities United Party dropped onto my doormat the other day. It makes some bold claims.
Many people are indeed disillusioned and feel betrayed by the big parties, but before anyone is tempted to give the CUP their vote later this month – even as a protest – it is worth taking a closer look.
The party is led by Kamran Malik, a local solicitor. The leaflet makes a big deal of having ‘challenged public authorities in the UK High Court’ on a number of issues. Indeed they have. But the Court got so sick of their frivolous and baseless claims that they have been banned from bringing any further actions without the explicit permission of a judge. The party was ordered to pay Newham Council £2,000 in legal costs after the last of their “truly hopeless” cases failed.
The CUP claims to enjoy ‘increasing support’ but the fact is that they are running fewer candidates at this election than 4 years ago – just one for council and one for mayor. In 2010 they had 10. Wherever that extra support is, it’s not in Newham.
Finally, the party is so utterly incompetent that it once sent a press statement to the Newham Recorder with its own name spelt wrong.
If you are looking for someone to vote for who’s not part of the ‘politics-as-usual’ crowd (which very much includes UKIP, despite their claims to the contrary) there are far more deserving candidates than the CUP.