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By John Kaponi Editor-in-chief Joan Ryan the Member of Parliament for Enfield North has failed in her quest to secure the future of A&E services at local Chase Farm hospital and will find defending her slender majority of 1920 near on impossible. The announcement by the government last week that A&E services would be scrapped at Chase Farm, along with a significant down-grading of maternity services may have been the final straw for the Enfield North MP and is now calling for a leadership contest in her own party.
Ryan is now one of the several Labour MPs calling for a leadership election in her own party, with the Prime Minister responding by sacking her as "special envoy on Cyprus" and vice-chair of the Labour Party. The north London MP has also been criticised by fellow Labour MPs as acting like "a dead man walking" in her bid to save her seat.
Ryan said on the BBC:
"I think that in order to serve our constituents properly to the best of our ability, to face the big issues that are facing our constituents and to ensure that we have the best way forward to deal with those big issues, we need to have this debate about the direction and leadership of our country out in the open now."
"Because it's a debate that I haven't caused, but it's a debate that's happening anyway at all levels. The fact that it's a little more open now is healthy, better. It's happening at all levels of the party and it should be happening in a more open and honest way."
Opposition politicians in Enfield have attacked Ryan on several fronts with her constituency costs one of the highest in the country at £178,000 last year. Nick De Bois the Conservative candidate for Enfield North described the cuts at Chase Farm Hospital as "devastating" and "I find it distressing that at a time when our hospitals are facing cuts Joan has cost in broad terms over the years over a million pounds which is alot of money."
photo credit: Chase Farm Hospital website
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