Faiza Shaheen took to twitter yesterday evening to speak out against the “upsetting” abuse she has received.

The 2019 Labour candidate for Chingford and Wood Green called out attacks from the local community, after a particularly “horrible week” of abuse.

Although the British Pakistani/Fijian politician only narrowly lost the seat in the 2019 election, coming second to the incumbent Ian Duncan Smith by just over 1,000 votes, she said her left-wing political beliefs left her particularly exposed to abuse.

She said: “I can’t tell you how awful the right have been towards me locally.

“[I am being] targeted by the right to ensure I feel there’s no place for me now and that my efforts mean nothing”.

Despite referring to her detractors as “the right”, Dr Shaheen made it clear that the abuse came from supporters within her own Labour party too.

In a tweet to MP Aspana Begum, she said it was “exhausting” that they had to fight off members of their own party, as well as “Tories and racists”.

One Labour supporter tweeted Dr Shaheen: “So glad you could [sic.] no longer be a parliamentary candidate for my party.”

Dr Shaheen said: “I know the right of the party is making a concerted effort to get me expelled – but [they] have failed.

“Do tell me why a daughter of a car mechanic & inequality expert shouldn't be a Labour Party candidate?”.

Dr Shaheen also reached out to Labour leader, Keir Starmer, to highlight the abuse coming from those claiming to support him.

She said: “I hope you know what is being done in your name”.

Dr Shaheen is an outspoken critic of the government and a vocal commentator on issues of race and poverty.

She is also a leading expert in the field of inequality, currently leading on the Grand Challenge on Inequality and Exclusion for the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies.

Dr Shaheen obtained a MSC in Research Methods and Statistics and a PhD from the University of Manchester after finishing her BA in politics, philosophy, and economics at Oxford University.

She has previously worked as the director of the think-tank the Centre for Labour & Social Studies, the head of inequality and sustainable development at the charity Save the Children, and a senior researcher on economic inequality at the New Economics Foundation.

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