County councillor Alex Bulat hit back at online critics of her selection as Labour candidate for Huntingdon at the General Election. Since announcing two days she had been selected by Labour to fight the constituency, many of her 30,000 followers on @X have offered support – but Cllr Bulat has also been stung by criticism.
“I really appreciate all your support, including the many people who helped, mentored and were there for me while this selection process happened,” she tweeted.
“Unsurprisingly, a small minority are unhappy that someone who is not born in the UK can live, work and study in the UK, become British and want to represent my home constituency.
“Our politics, both locally and nationally, should reflect the diversity of the UK and I am proud to be Romanian-born and a British citizen and want to make the place I live in better for all, regardless of where we happen to be born.”
She added: “When we see more abuse and intimidation in politics being reported across the country, we should all support the principles of #DebateNotHate – we can disagree with people on their arguments, not their personal characteristics they cannot change.
“I’m working on planning my campaign for Huntingdon, so if you want to be involved, let me know!”
Cllr Bulat moved to the UK from Romania in 2012.
“I was 18 years old, and I remember struggling to understand my flatmates speaking in English,” she has previously said.
“Eight years later, I had a PhD in Political Sociology and became a British citizen.”
Cllr Alex Bulat, Labour county councillor and migrant champion, said: “Asylum seekers want to learn English, work, integrate and have a normal life in the UK like everyone else.” Cllr Bulat became Britain’s first Romanian-born county councillor after the 2021 local elections.This week she reminded @X followers that “I live in Huntingdon, but this town is more than my home – it is the place where I became British, so it will always be special to me.
“When I moved to the UK at 18, struggling with studying, working, and learning English, I could not have imagined that one day I would be a citizen, a councillor, or have a PhD degree, let alone stand for Parliament.
“I did not grow up discussing politics and I have never thought that people like me could be in politics.
“I have dedicated all my working life to public service, whether it’s working in non-profit organisations and charities, researching, and campaigning for better policies or becoming the first British-Romanian Labour county councillor, representing residents on Cambridgeshire County council – and hopefully the first British-Romanian MP!
Congratulations Alex Bulat, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Huntingdon! pic.twitter.com/rQwgCKKkvp
— Labour East (@EofELabour) March 4, 2024
“Our towns, villages, and hamlets in the Huntingdon constituency have been let down by successive Conservative governments.
“We need an active MP who is present and puts residents’ interests first.
“We have more in common than what divides us – from Kimbolton to Warboys, we all want an NHS back on its feet, houses we can afford to live in, streets we can feel safe on, and clean energy and healthy food made in the UK.
“Most of all, I would like to see our children having the opportunities I had as a young person in the UK, not a next generation that is worse off than their parents.
Cllr Alex Bulat: ‘If some people here really think the ‘you’re not British’ or (mildly or less mildly) xenophobic comments will make me less likely to be involved in politics… I have news for you’“Huntingdon deserves a full-time MP and a new hope that things can get better – but in order to make Huntingdon a better place to live, we need to vote for that change.”
And she had this to add to online critics.
“If some people here really think the ‘you’re not British’ or (mildly or less mildly) xenophobic comments will make me less likely to be involved in politics… I have news for you.
“Stood for election before as a councillor, had the exact same stuff in my comments, and everything is fine after because the vast majority of people want someone who does the work and is present as a politician rather than caring about where someone was born.”
