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News and Comment July 2023

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25 July - Compassionate Conservatism

I suspect, based on the lack of feedback, that very few people are interested in the Motions that the Bexley Labour Group puts forward at every Full Council meeting. They tend to suffer one of several fates; if they are worthwhile the Tories will make a minor amendment and claim them as their own or if they are less than enthusiastic will change them out of all recognition with a bit of self-praise added for good measure. Sometimes they will simply vote them down.

Last week the subject was temporary accommodation for which the Conservatives chose their second option. Councillor Mabel Ogundayo (Labour, Thamesmead East) said the Council “owed it to residents to ensure a decent and non-demeaning home” and called on Bexley Council to “raise and enforce basic standards”. Recently we have seen people dumped into houses with no roofs, no toilets, no electricity and no furniture but with the benefit of rodent droppings.

The photos below were taken in a flat in my own road after a single and mentally damaged lady was unceremoniously dumped along with all her worldly goods such that it was next to impossible to get through the front door let alone sit down, cook a meal or sleep.
Front door Sitting room Sitting room Kitchen

One of the disadvantages of relying on webcasts for information is that the inevitable Tory Amendment is not made public. It fell to Councillor Davey (West Heath) to derail Mabel’s motion but what it may have said must remain a mystery apart from his spoken comments on the night.

He said it was an improvement on the Labour Motion because “it highlights the fantastic work of our Council staff” (the mandatory self-praise) who dealt with 2,915 homeless approaches last year. The Housing Associations are good and some private landlords are better. “Nearby Labour Councils” provide “a concrete forest not fit to bring children up in”.

“Households in temporary accommodation in Bexley continues to decrease month on month. [Are they turning even more applicants away?] Greenwich overspent on temporary accommodation by £2 million, Lewisham £6·5 million and [sheer desperation] ULEZ will cause more homelessness”.

The Amendment was seconded by Councillor Chris Taylor. “All Bexley properties meet national standards” while Greenwich provides “substandard, dirty cramped and verminous accommodation”.

Labour Councillor Chris Ball (Erith) objected to the Amendment being about Emergency Accommodation while the Motion was on Temporary Accommodation but was over-ruled by the Monitoring Officer who said “neither the removal of words nor the insertion of words amount to voting against the Motion”.

Councillor Daniel Francis obviously thought that was nonsense as indeed it must be. Change any number of words you like but it remains a simple Amendment not a new Motion.

Councillor Ogundayo regretted that the debate had become one of semantics and not people’s lives.

Cabinet Member Sue Gower said that Bexley was a “compassionate Conservative Council” and the Labour Motion was defeated.

The photographs above were made available to Bexley Council which, after being chased, telephoned me at home to explain that the occupant had not been very helpful to them and was therefore being “actively punished”. The words are burned into my memory. Email
It will be noted that the events portrayed above are 20 years old which puts it firmly within the Labour era. It is to be hoped that the staff employed then are long since gone.

 

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