12:50pm Tuesday 2nd March 2010
By Carl Brown
SOCIALIST Nancy Taaffe will be standing as a parliamentary candidate for Walthamstow in the general election.
She will stand for the newly-formed Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, which is backed by several leading trade unionists including Rail, Maritime and Transport union leader Bob Crow.
Ms Taaffe, who in 2007 was at the forefront of a successful campaign against council plans to end centrally-provided school meals, said: "National and local politicians in New Labour, Lib Dems and Tories allowed the land grab, the cutting and shutting and the privatising and corporatising of public property that was not theirs to sell off.
"The effects of these sell-offs are felt by everybody.”
Ms Taaffe stood in the last election under the banner of Socialist Alternative, and polled just 727 votes, losing her deposit.
The other confirmed candidates for the seat so far, are former Mayor of Waltham Forest Stella Creasy (Labour), business consultant Farid Ahmed (Lib Dem,councillor Andy Hemsted (Conservative) and Daniel Perrett (Green).
Current MP Neil Gerrard, who in 2005 won a majority of nearly 8,000 votes, is standing down.
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