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Polish workers are in demand - as Labour has its eye on an extension
Mariusz Rapa has been reading up on Reading: the town, its political groups and the issues they consider important in one of the most finely balanced and keenly fought local elections in the South.
For two decades the town has been a Labour stronghold but the party’s grip has been loosening since 2004. Today, with many of its most senior councilors up for re-election, it is expected widely to lose control of the council in a defeat that would symbolise a broader retreat: the loss of Labour’s remaining toe-hold in the South.
In this maelstrom, Mr Rapa, 27, a Polish immigrant who arrived in Britain two years ago, represents a part of the Reading electorate who lack a lifelong political affiliation or a long-developed sense of disaffection with central government.
His Roman Catholic faith is important, the candidate he votes for must “respect life”, but after that, he must fall back on first principles: he is researching the candidates and trying to decide who will best serve the community and the interests of Poles in Reading.
There are an estimated 10,000 Polish immigrants in the town: enough to persuade the local paper, the Reading Chronicle, to publish a Polish edition, and a local supermarket to install a Polish goods aisle.
Poles are equally well represented in the high street. There are two Polish shops, a Polish pub and a Polish church. In east Reading, there is a Polish police community support officer. In the forthcoming political contest many Poles are now preparing to cast their vote.
Nearly 10,000 names have been added to the electoral register since 2005. The council cannot say how many of these are Polish migrants. It has, however, sent officers to inform the 1,000-strong congregation at the Polish church that, as EU citizens, immigrants have the right to vote in local, as well as European, elections.
The three main political parties have tried to court this minority, sending out letters in Polish informing new residents of their qualities and aspirations. Last week the Conservatives published their manifesto in Polish.
Labour councillors seemed cautious about the influence of the Polish vote: in an e-mail to The Times, David Sutton, the council leader, wrote that “those who are on the register do not seem to be very actively engaged with British politics. In some cases this is because they are wholly focused on their work; in other cases they do not expect to be staying here long.”
However, Gareth Epps, election agent for the Liberal Democrats, points out that the Polish population is concentrated in town centre wards, where the election will be “too close to call”. Local issues generally include fortnightly bin collections, the closure of five post offices and a controversy over Reading’s inner ring road. But he said: “I think Poles look at the British political system and are quite perplexed by it.” The Polish voters whom Mr Epps has encountered on Reading’s doorsteps have been concerned about crime and antisocial behaviour, but also “issues with private rented housing”.
Emma Warman, 31, a Conservative candidate, told The Times: “They are quite entrepreneurial. That is one reason why they would be encouraged to vote Conservative.”
In her outer Reading ward on Friday evening, however, she met few Polish voters on the doorsteps. One eastern European, a Latvian, intended to vote but a 26-year-old Polish pipe fitter who was on his way out with two friends for a night on the town, said: “I came here for money, that’s all. Not politics.”
It was far easier to find Polish voters in central Reading. Pawel Bartczak, 60, a shopkeeper, examined the Tory manifesto. “This point is important,” he said. “Safety on the street.” He liked the idea of a clean and green Reading, as well as “the town being for everyone, for all communities”. His voting record in Poland was “every time to the right”, the reason for which was that “when I was 6 I was told by my teacher I must cry because Stalin was dead”.
Many of his Polish friends in Reading are preparing to vote and have a similar background, though he believes that they will make a distinction between British and Polish politics. “People in politics here have made their money and are in it for politics,” he said. “There is a feeling in Poland that people are in it for the money.” He had not yet decided how to vote.
Lucas Celmer, 30, the landlord at Gospoda, Reading’s Polish pub, was planning to vote for the party he felt would best deal with antisocial behaviour and help Poles to access local services. He had not quite decided which party that was. In the street outside, Marcin Jezewski, a builder who runs a local Polish charity, Ecce Homo, thinks that this will prove to be the first election at which Poles can change something. “More of us are settling now, more people are registered. Our vote now means something.”
Source: The Times Online, Will Pavia
30/04/2008
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