Our London Assembly candidate for Merton and Wandsworth, Dr Pippa Maslin, was a state secondary school English teacher for thirteen years, and then a carer for her father and a media arts university tutor during the completion of her Ph.D. Following five years as a caseworker at a local Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisation, which involved providing information, advice and advocacy to people needing help with welfare benefits, social care, housing, and concessionary travel, she now holds the post of Policy and Campaigns Manager.
Born to a Filipina and a Briton, Pippa moved from Manila to Morden in 1977 and, after some time away, returned to the borough of Merton in 2013. Angered by pernicious ‘austerity measures’ imposed by the coalition government, she joined The People’s Assembly Against Austerity. Determined to fight cuts to essential local services, particularly in adult social care and at St Helier Hospital, she threw herself into campaigning.
In 2015, Pippa and her neighbours found themselves having to fight their housing association, Clarion, to lower a bill for major works. The ward Councillors proved ineffective. Thus, the residents took matters into their own hands and managed to negotiate about 60% off the original figure. In the same year, she joined the National Health Action Party because she felt compelled to counter unjust cuts to local healthcare and the burgeoning backdoor privatisation of our NHS.
A move to the Green Party came shortly after and, in 2017, Pippa was a candidate in a by-election for the ward in which she lives. Since then, she has represented her ward in subsequent council elections, stood as the Mitcham and Morden candidate for the General Election in 2019, and came a respectable third as the London Assembly candidate for Merton and Wandsworth in 2021.
Notably, after encountering, in late 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Global Warming, the next year saw Pippa create and lead a successful petition to Merton Council to declare a climate emergency and review its current carbon reduction plans for the borough to help to limit global warming to 1.5°C – going on to work with the Council, as part of a Climate Emergency Working Group, to create a Climate Strategy and Action Plan.
More recently, Pippa has: worked with a grassroots group whose central aim is to lobby for and shape improvements in infrastructure for active travel in Merton; helped a coalition of residents’ associations and individuals opposing the All England Lawn Tennis Club’s excessive proposal to expand its site; and supported residents in Mitcham to reject an inappropriate plan for the old gasworks site. Further to this, she belongs to Friends of Morden Recreation Ground and, after a few years of joining up with neighbours to protect Morden Park from inappropriate commercial use, now sits on the committee for Friends of Morden Park.
Outside of work and activism, Pippa loves to walk, watch birds, learn about wildlife, eat out, and listen to music.
Email: pippamaslin@hotmail.co.uk
X: @pippamaslin
Telephone number: 07939 816296