Andrew Feinstein with members of the Camden People’s Alliance in Somers Town on Sunday

A NEW political party standing in Camden’s council elections for the first time has struck a deal which will see the Greens not stand in two target wards.

The Camden People’s Alliance said tackling housing, homelessness and food poverty crises through a change in priorities at the Town Hall are the main objectives of a new left-wing party.

But with its red, black and green branding – the colours of the flag of Palestine – it has said it will be critical of Labour’s foreign policy too.

The CPA has registered candidates in Somers Town and St Pancras, and King’s Cross wards, and on Sunday members were out with megaphones and leaflets in Chalton Street, It has been built on the back of Andrew Feinstein’s independent campaign against Sir Keir Starmer at 2024 general election.

Members said they would criticise what they saw as UK support for the Israeli government, arguing that money spent on wars and ramping-up the defence budget should go on addressing issues that really matter to people in Camden.

It is urging like-minded voters to back the Greens elsewhere in the borough saying it will work with them as long as they do not sell out.

Mr Feinstein, who is not standing himself, said: “The manifesto that we are launching today speaks explicitly about the right to food in what should be one of the richest boroughs of the UK. Over 40 per cent of our children live in poverty. The right to food is not talked about by anyone at all. It is why we have food banks at the end of this road.

“Camden’s approach to homelessness has become more and more authoritarian. We would engage with these people, and find solutions to allow them to live with dignity. “Society should not be judged by how it treats its richest and best off, it should be judged on how it treats the most vulnerable.”

But he added it was important to talk about “illegal wars” because it was taking away money that should be “invested in communities”, and said Labour Camden, unlike other councils, had resisted calls to divest its pension fund from companies linked to arms firms being used abroad.

Mr Feinstein said he remained an “eternal optimist” about democracy being capable of bringing meaningful change, after experiencing it on his previous life as an elected politician sitting alongside Nelson Mandela in South Africa’s Parliament.

He told the New Journal: “People are fed up with politics and politicians because they have been lied to. I can tell you that there weren’t people rushing to us to say ‘oh I want to be a councillor’.

SEE ALSO FULL LIST OF CANDIDATES IN KING’S CROSS

SEE ALSO FULL LIST OF CANDIDATES IN ST PANCRAS & SOMERS TOWN

In fact, we have had to really persuade people that being a councillor could really be a way to help the community take a step further.”

Mr Feinstein – who polled 19 per cent of the vote in the Holborn and St Pancras constituency at the last general election – said the founding articles of the CPA meant that all elected members would be held to account for their impact on the community they represent.

Andrew Feinstein speaking ahead of his 2024 general election campaign in Holborn and St Pancras

Explaining the “understanding” with the Greens, he said: “We would back and work with any progressive councillors, and we regard the Greens as a progressive force. “They have stood down in these two wards, on the understanding we would work together. We are suggesting people vote Green in other wards. That doesn’t mean it’s a blank cheque. If they end up behaving like the Labour Party, then of course we will not work with them. We will call them out.”

Somers Town candidate Abdul Shah Majeed said: “I worked as a behaviour mentor in a secondary school and ran youth activities on the weekend and after school. I see how children are affected by policies: coming in without any lunch money, no lunch money, some become homeless during the weekends, sleeping in dad’s cars and stuff. I want to speak up for the youth.”

A full list of council elections candidates in all wards is available on the New Journal’s website.