Tory defector to stand for Labour in Coventry elections

[dutchman]

A Coventry mum and lawyer who defected from the Tories has been selected to stand for Labour in council elections.



The unusual switch has been made by Maya Ali, who runs a family solicitors’ practice in Foleshill.

She stood and lost for the Conservatives in St Michael’s in last year’s Coventry City Council elections.

Now she has been selected as Labour’s candidate for Westwood next May, to stand against Conservative councillor Marcus Lapsa.

Mother-of-three Mrs Ali, who runs Maya and Co solicitors in Holmsdale Road, Foleshill, said she did not feel the Tories in government were successfully representing communities.

Brought up in Hillfields with Bangladeshi roots as the daughter of a factory worker, she went on to study law at Warwick University as a mature student with young children.

She graduated in 2000, the same year as leading Conservative councillor Kevin Foster.

She denied she had opportunistically switched sides because Labour is now overwhelmingly in power at the Council House.

She said: “I know I will be asked that question. But if your heart’s not in the party, what do you do?

“If you think another party can better serve the community then you have no option but to change.

“My family was always Labour. I had felt the Conservatives would be the best party to serve working class people after a Labour government had been in power for such a long time.

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