CECILIA Prosper, a campaigner and political activist in Waltham Forest, has died from bowel cancer, aged 43.

Tributes have been pouring in for Ms Prosper, a single mum with a 12-year-old son, after she lost her fight against the disease last Thursday.

An active member of the Waltham Forest Socialist Alliance, she stood as a party candidate for the borough in the London Assembly elections, winning eight per cent of the vote.

A resident of Howard Road, Walthamstow, she also stood in the by-election for the Hoe Street ward in 2002 and again in May last year for the Forest ward following the death of Mayor Fazlur Rahman.

Ms Prosper, who was a housing worker for the last 15 years, was a Unison steward who her friends say was always ready to take up a cause.

She was also involved in campaigns against police racism and she supported the redistribution of wealth, the end of poverty and an end to discrimination, nuclear weapons and war.

Her colleague at the Socialist Alliance, Sue Catten, said that as a single parent and a black woman, Cecilia was proud to stand on a platform which opposed racism, defended asylum seekers and promoted socialist policies that gave hope to children.

Sue said her death left an "immeasurable gap in our lives" and added: "Although Cecilia has had her life cut short, she has left her 12-year-old son, and the world, a large legacy, hope, determination and the continual fight against injustice."