• A NUMBER of West Hampstead residents have written to me upset that their polling station has been secretly moved over a kilometre away.

I share their concern at this deliberate voter suppression. For almost half the ward it was due to be at St James’ Church, home of the Sherriff Centre.

This was publicly agreed by Camden Council as a whole last April, and it worked. St James’ is a prominent, easily-accessible, location on West End Lane.

With developments at West Hampstead Square and Blackburn Road, it is increasingly the centre of gravity of the polling district.

Imagine residents’ surprise when they were told that their polling station is now Brondesbury Christian Centre: down a cul-de-sac off the Kilburn High Road, over 1.2 kilometres away.

The average voter in the ward now has to travel 300 metres further. I was astonished by this.

Campaigners and residents’ groups told residents they were voting at St James’ because that had been publicly decided. But it turns out that one party knew it had changed, because they changed it.

The change was agreed by West Hampstead’s Labour councillors and the chief executive of the Labour-run council, without discussion with anyone else. Of course, it’s obvious why.

St James’ is not just near the centre of gravity of the polling district, it’s also near the O2 Centre, where Labour have earmarked the site for high-rises and co-designed with Landsec a skyscraping development with 1,800 flats.

This is Trumpian voter suppression: secretly moving where people vote by over a kilometre to reduce turnout by residents who are angry at Labour’s own actions.

I’ve lived in West Hampstead for over 50 years and have never seen anything like it.

To restore the fairness and impartiality of the ballot, this change should be reversed and the original, publicly-taken, consulted-on, decision – to use St James’ – should be restored.

Camden has said it’s too late to change it for May, but you can still make it easier for you to vote by registering to vote by post.

If you are concerned by the O2 Centre development, or other reasons why Labour might not want you to vote, you can register for a postal vote at www.camden.team/pv

IAN COHEN
Conservative Candidate for West Hampstead