Cllr Rakhia Ismail

• CLLR Rakhia Ismail is right (We need action to empower women, March 12), we need to do much more to empower and promote women in all fields from business and manufacturing to services, government, charities, science and the arts.

That’s why it’s incomprehensible to me that she decided to leave Labour, the party on whose ticket she was elected to the council, and join the Conservatives.

The Tories have a long record in blocking progress towards votes for all women, never mind advancement. In contrast Labour has a proud record of promoting equality.

At the moment, of Labour’s 44 Islington councillors a majority, 26, are women. Of those nine are of black/ minority ethnic origin, including the new council leader elect Cllr Kaya Comer-Schwartz.

One of the borough’s two Labour MPs is a woman. The constituency member of the London Assembly is a black woman. She retires after the election but the Labour candidate to replace her is also a black woman.

Of Labour’s 12 AMs six are women. The Tories have eight assembly seats, only one held by a woman.

All the laws to promote equality from equal pay to bans on sex discrimination have been proposed by Labour and opposed by the Conservatives.

Yes, we must do better. Cllr Ismail is deluded if she believes her political party has the answers. The Tories are part of the problem, not the solution.

STEVEN POWELL, N1