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MPs see Hackney at night and say 'it seems safe to us'
Jack Lefley, Evening Standard5 Feb 2008
A group of MPs ventured on to the streets of Hackney after dark, pouring scorn on comments by the Home Secretary that she would not feel safe there.
Members of the home affairs select committee were given a tour of Stoke Newington by local MP Diane Abbott.
Their visit followed remarks by Jacqui Smith last month that she would not feel safe when out alone at night in the east London borough.
Her aides had tried to atone by revealing she went for a kebab, only for it to emerge that she was accompanied by her police bodyguard.
Committee chairman Keith Vaz was shown the pubs, bars and restaurants of Stoke Newington's Church Street last night with fellow MPs Karen Buck and Gwyn Prosser.
They also visited an estate where a teenage boy had recently been shot dead yards from his front door. But Mr Vaz said: "Hackney seems extremely safe to me. We do have the advantage of being guided by the local MP but I must say it seems very nice indeed."
Ms Abbott said Miss Smith should not have fed a "a climate of fear" with her comments.
She added: "I just wanted to show once and for all that the Home Secretary was wrong to say it was not safe to walk the streets of Hackney at night."
The borough's police commander, Chief Superintendent Steve Dann, said his officers were upset when Miss Smith made her remarks and pointed out Hackney's reduced crime rate over the last three years. But Veronique Nyembo-Ya-Muteba, whose husband Stevens was shot dead in 2006, branded the tour "a publicity stunt". She said: "Hackney is not that safe because my husband was killed on his own doorstep."
Reader views (18)
Hackney is not a bad area, I have been living here since I was 5 and grew it there I am now 12, I am not related to gang culture, my friends aren't either. I feel safe at night and outside too. Hackney is getting a bad name because of what has happened before.
- Unknown, Hackney, London, 05/01/2009 00:35
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Who do they think they are kidding with that staged photo?
- Belle, UK, 06/02/2008 14:37
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Oh I feel so much safer now. All I have to do next time I have to walk home late from the tube is round up a bunch of MPs and security guards and get a television crew. Why didn't I think of that before? And these idiots are deciding our laws?
- R M, London, UK, 06/02/2008 12:38
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Why not show us some more pics? Then we can have a competition to see who can spot all the unmarked police cars?
- Aloo, London, 06/02/2008 11:57
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No one in their right mind would try and attack Ms Abbott. She looks scary in the light of Westminster, let alone in the dark in Hackney.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland, 06/02/2008 10:38
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Typical politicians all talk no substance. Lets see these same brave souls without the media circus walking around at night on their own looking so smartly dressed.
- Aiddy, UK, 06/02/2008 10:16
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I would not want to bump into this lot down a dark alley way!
- Tom, St. Albans, 06/02/2008 09:42
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Now let them just repeat this exercise solo.
- Chuck Unsworth, London, 05/02/2008 22:28
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Who on earth do these jokers think they are fooling, its Coppers on the beat we need not clowns!
- George, Hempstead, 05/02/2008 21:15
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Are they trying to be funny? No one is going to try to roll up on them and their camera crew are they! Plus the streets looked unordinarily quiet, they probably cleared them upon arrival. Stokie Church street is the Mayfair of Hackney, why didn't they go to Dalston High Street with the 24-hour crackheads or Hackney central where a boy was stabbed nine times at 10pm last Friday?
- Melissa, London, 05/02/2008 15:43
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Of course it is safe for that lot, passing through the area on a brief visit, along with their guards, advance warning and so on. It is unbelievable they have the gall to do it.
- Helen, Norwich, 05/02/2008 15:35
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I creased myself laughing at this article...as you guys have already pointed out, they went for a walk around Hackney with an entourage and said "it seems safe." Oh dear oh dear.
- Gary, Surrey UK, 05/02/2008 15:24
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Jim - Victoria Park is locked after dark...
- Tom, London, 05/02/2008 15:20
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Breaking News - Diane Abbott spotted in constituency!
- Julianne, London, 05/02/2008 14:23
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I live in Stoke Newington and Church St is very safe at night. Why? Because it's full of people from Islington. It seems they chose a nice bit of Hackney to create the illusion of safety. Let's face it - Hackney is a grim hole with half eaten boxes of chicken littering the streets. I can't wait to move out of the spit ridden abomination that is Hackney!
- Spanky, London, 05/02/2008 14:22
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Of course Hackney is safe, when you go out with a gaggle of photographers and press, while walking through the main throughfares. Let any one of them walk alone on the less used streets. These MPs are only good for publicity stunts, and not for actual work, as elected. Chuck 'em out, and put a sensible proper MP as 'em 'wot 'uster be'! They'll clean up machine gun alley.
- A.Winsor, Hants, England, 05/02/2008 13:25
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Wander around on your own next time for a true feel of the area at night - or even during the day. Leave the camera crew and tour guide at home.
- Kr, London, 05/02/2008 13:09
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Yep, dusty, out of touch politicians walking around with a wealth of protection and cameramen for that all important photo-op outside the all night fruit and veg. Try being 14 years old, walking through Vici Park by yourself after dark (with an Ipod). Ya postcode innit? Get real...
- Jim, London, 05/02/2008 13:02
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