In the most recent local elections in the UK, Labour gained a couple of flagship councils from the Tories, including Wandsworth, which had been in Tory hands since the 1970s (including through the Blair years).  However, it lost two councils it had held for some years to the Tories, namely Croydon in the south and Harrow in the north-west. In Croydon, the Labour council has had to make major public service cuts as a result of a financial crisis; in Harrow, the loss has been attributed to losing the local Indian vote. While this was in part due to a crisis involving bin collection, it was also because the local Hindu community considers the Labour party as patronising and too close to Muslims. Writing in the New Statesman,  Kavya Kaushik, noted that the party loses Asian votes once Asians become wealthier (both in Harrow and in other areas with a large Asian vote such as Southall). As one constituent told Kaushik when campaigning there, “you vote Labour in Southall but then you make money, move to Isleworth and buy a Mercedes” then you vote Tory. (The author calls Pinner “Harrow’s Isleworth,” popular with Harrow Hindus who have “made it,” but Isleworth is in a different borough to Southall.) Continue reading Should Labour be Chasing Hindu Fascist Votes?