96,296 Polish electors in London and 55 Polish candidates

 

                                                            P R E S S       R E L E A S E

There are currently 96,296 Polish citizens on the electoral roll in the 33 London Boroughs who are eligible to vote in the local elections on Thursday May 5th. This constitutes 1.57% of the total electorate of 6,116,260 in Greater London (ONS statistics - December 2020). The Federation of Poles in Great Britain CIO, which is an umbrella structure for Polish organizations in Great Britain and has served as the voice of the Polish community in this country since 1946, is urging as many UK citizens of Polish origin, as well as Polish citizens resident in the UK, to take an active part in the local elections in London and elsewhere in the United Kingdom. 

The various Polish communities throughout London have been in the forefront in the massive generous relief effort for Ukrainian refugees, since the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24th. Polish community centres in London and elsewhere have acted as the first hub in their local area for financial and material donations to assist Ukraine and its refugees. Polish voters in London will want to see that local council candidates support continuing the relief effort for Ukrainians, and they have been critical of the administrative delays in offering Ukrainian refugees asylum in Britain. 

There is also considerable concern, already voiced by Dr Włodzimierz Mier-Jędrzejowicz, President of the Federation of Poles, in his letter on 24th June 2021 to the Prime Minister, at delays and mistakes in granting full settled status to so many Polish and other EU citizens. 

There has been more coverage of these elections than previously in the Polish London media, both in printed magazines and on Polish websites. Our member organizations have been appealing to their members to ensure they are registered to vote and to participate actively in the local elections. For instance, Polish Migrants Organize for Change (POMOC) is campaigning to maximize the number of Polish female voters, and are prioritizing registration drives for all potential Polish electors in Ealing, Hounslow, Lewisham and Waltham Cross.  

 

The attached statistical table indicates a further gradual reduction in the total number of Polish electors in London. This was foreseeable in view of decisions by some Polish families to return to Poland following uncertainties over settled status, while others have opted to apply for UK citizenship and consequently no longer appear as Polish citizens on the electoral roll. In fact, there is a 3.7% drop in the number of Polish electors in relation to the previous year and a 12.6% reduction in comparison to 2018, when the Polish electorate statistics had finally peaked in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit Referendum. 

As usual, the largest concentrations of Polish electors are in Ealing (12377) and Hounslow (7570), and then Brent (5274), Croydon (5029), Barnet (4594), Haringey (4537), Merton (4608) and Hillingdon (4501). 

A total of 55 candidates in London appear to be of Polish extraction. They are on the lists of 19 of the London Boroughs. These candidates include 27 Conservatives (18 of them in Hackney and 4 in Haringey), 7 Labour, 8 Liberal Democrats, 11 Greens and 2 from other parties (see below).

Wiktor Moszczynski,

Research Officer

Federation of Poles in Great Britain, 238-240 King Street, London W6 0RF,

List of Borough Council candidates in Greater London of Polish extraction

Borough             Ward                                Name                                                            Party

Bexley                Kelsey & Eden Park        John Paul Gorski                         Lib Democrat

Camden              Fortune Green                Richard Olszewski                        Labour

Croydon             Park Hill & Whitgift        Szymon Zaborski                        Lib Democrat

Ealing                 Greenford Broadway    Jan Andrew Gaca                           Green

                            Hanger Hill                       Michal Solski                            Green

                            Northolt West End         Natalia Kubica                             Green

                            Walpole                            Monika Williams                Conservative

Enfield                Bowes                              Daniel Szymon Stachow            Green

                            Edmonton Green           Peter Krakowiak                           Green

Hackney             Brownswood                  Joanna Zolnierzak                    Conservative

                            Clissold                             Diana Mikolajewska            Conservative

                            Clissold                             Monika Nierzejewska          Conservative

                            Clissold                             Julia Zolnierzak                   Conservative

                            Hackney Central             Stefan Liberadzki                      Green

                            Hackney Downs              Agnieszka Cuellar-Bridy      Conservative

                            Hackney Downs              Nikodem Mikolajewski         Conservative

                            Hackney Downs              Joanna Wojciechowska         Conservative

                            Hackney Wick                 Piotr Lipinski                        Conservative

                            Hackney Wick                 Piotr Pietrzyk                        Conservative

                            Hackney Wick                 Anna Socha                           Conservative

                            Haggerston                      Karolina Bugaric                   Conservative

                            Lea Bridge                        Marzena Sterner                  Conservative

                            Lea Bridge                        Sally Zlotovitz                          Green

                            Shacklewell                     Andrzej Krajewski                Conservative

                            Springfield                       Simche Steinberger              Conservative

                            Stoke Newington            Anna Chomicz                       Conservative

                            Stoke Newington            Weronika Zolnierzak             Conservative

                            Victoria                            Monika Hoppe                      Conservative

                            Woodbury Down           Agnieszka Wypych                 Conservative

Haringey            Bruce Castle                    Agnieszka Bielecka               Conservative

                            Tottenham Central        Agnieszka Adrjanowicz          Conservative

                            Tottenham Hale             Peter Gorski                           Conservative

                            West Green                     Richard Siemicki                  Lib Democrat

                            White Hart Lane             Jeremy Krynicki                   Conservative

Harrow               Pinner South                   Zbigniew Kowalczyk                Reform UK

                            West Harrow                  Monika Sobiecki                       Green

Havering            Goosehays                      Emilia Kukielka                         Conservative

                            Harold Wood                  Krystyna Koseda                       Labour

                            St Edwards                      Karen Kruzycka                       Green

Hounslow          Osterley & Springrove   Judith Kowalczyk                       Lib Democrat

Islington             Junction                           Stefan Krawczyk                      Lib Democrat

Kensington & Chelsea Colville                    Alex Nowak                            Lib Democrat

                            Dalgarno                          Theodore Karpinski                Conservative

Kingston   St Marks &Seething Wells       Deborah Olszewski        Womens Equality

Lambeth            Vauxhall                           Liam Jarnecki                           Labour

Lewisham          Evelyn                               Tim Reczek                             Conservative

                          Catford South                 Eva Stamirowski                      Labour

                          Hither Green                   Jane Alaszewska                      Lib Democrat

                          Lee Green                        Miki Jablkowska                     Green

                          Rushey Green                 Louise Krupski                         Labour

Merton               Lavender Fields              Slawek Szczepanski                Labour

Newham            Forest Gate South          Olenka Gradosielska                Conservative

Southwark         Peckham Rye                   Renata Hamvas                      Labour

Wandsworth     Thamesfield                    Penny Staniaszek                     Green

                         Tooting Broadway         Stephen Bieniek                Lib Democrat         

Totals:  55 candidates

Of which:   Conservative  27       Labour 7             Lib Dems 8         Green 11                Others 2

                                         

                                                                                     

UK and Polish "useful idiots"

 From Wiktor Moszczynski,

Dear Sirs,

I was intrigued by the description of Boris Johnson as the suggested mediator between Germany and Poland in their contrasting response to the war in Ukraine. Patrick Wintour seems to approve Jonson's credentials in his piece "Johnson is an unlikely bridge builder" (Guardian 07.04.2022), but the poisoned relationship between Germany and the current Polish leadership will remain. While it is true that the UK and Poland still see eye to eye on a strong commitment to supply arms and material support to Ukraine, and are more determined then Germany and France in pressing for stronger sanctions, they are also united by their consistent negativity towards Brussels and to the current French and German leadership, even to the extent of publicly sniping at Macron as he desperately battles the pro-Putin nationalist forces which challenge his presidency next week. 

In the past Lenin mocked European politicians and writers who sympathised with Soviet Russia as "useful idiots". Now Boris Johnson and Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki have both played the role of "useful idiots" to the Putin political agenda in the last 5 years as they have sought to undermine the liberal principles and the unity of the European Union, which Putin and his more overt European allies (Orban, LePen, Farage) are determined to destroy. In fact, Brussels and Berlin suspect that despite the hostility of UK and Poland to Putin, their temporarily concealed anti-European agenda remains in place, as they await the triumphant return of the arch "useful idiot", President Trump in 2024.

Yours faithfully,

Wiktor Moszczynski

Sent to the Guardian   07.04.2022

ReplyForward

Russian tradition of mass executions

 Dear Editor,

Michael Day is right to draw on the past history of mass executions by Russia when referring to the killings in Ukraine "Russia's sheer brutality an all-too-familiar trait" "i" 05.04.2022). It is not just the executions with hands tied behind their backs and a bullet in the back of the head that link up Bucha, Grozny and the mass executions of 22,000 Polish officers and civic leaders in 1940 in the Katyn Forest and other sites in Russia. There is also the persistence of denial and lies that go with it. The truth about the Katyn atrocities was denied by successive Russian governments until 1990. Russia has an unenviable record both of massacre and mendacity that goes back more than a century.

Yours faithfully,

Wiktor Moszczynski

Spokesman

Federation of Poles in Great Britain

Sent to "i"                     on 4th April