18 July - Councillor’s Question No. 1
I briefly contemplated attending the Full Council meeting to see our new
Mayor in action but the Covid or whatever it is decided to come back and get me.
While Councillor Gower was putting on her chains of office I was thinking of
climbing the wooden hill - and did so shortly afterwards. What did the idiot
P.M. Sunak say in Parliament? Ah yes; the vaccines are safe and effective.
As it turned out I would not have been able to watch Dimitri Shvorob ask
his usual awkward questions because Sidcup Police have
condemned him to
guarding his house and protecting his family against a hammer heaving
builder. The police know his name, his address, have his van pictured parked
nearby, maybe the culprits fingerprints on the weapon and certainly know
the motive but cannot be bothered getting off of their lazy arses to initiate
an enquiry. And Dimitri’s MP Louie French has proved himself to be in
chocolate teapot territory again.
So question time went straight to Councillor James Hunt.
Exactly what Cabinet Member Leaf would have been hoping for and he set about answering it with his usual gusto.
He opened with the election being a case of “Vote Farage get Francis” presumably
having forgotten that in 2019 it was a case of “Vote Conservative get Conned”
and most of the electorate didn’t fancy being fooled a second time. He did
nevertheless wish all three former Bexley Councillors now in Westminster the best
of luck and he would “work constructively with anyone who wished to make Bexley Even Better”.
Councillor Leaf said that the Labour Manifesto said almost nothing about Local
Government finance but combined with the King’s Speech there were significant
cost burdens across the whole of Local Government. On Planning there are no
details and we do not know what the costs are, we do not know if we will have to
write a new Local Plan and there is the vague threat to modernise Planning
Committees. A complete unknown.
Social Care costs will increase but no one knows by how much. What does
Collective Bargaining for Social Workers mean? Labour have said it doesn’t like
Free Schools and we have ten in the borough. Labour will do “what their Union
Paymasters ask them to do which might have significant cost impacts”. There is
more red tape for business and we know nothing about future Highways funding.
Millions of pounds had been promised for potholes, now we don’t know.
5,000 prisoners are to be released early (a Labour Member shouted something
inaudible and was admonished by the Mayor) and the borders are to be opened
creating further pressures on all boroughs so “we face huge uncertainties and
potential costs” but we will make the case for Bexley. (Except where indicated
the foregoing is not David Leaf verbatim but an edited summary of his words.)
Councillor Hunt looked back at the previous Labour Government; Local Government
underfunding resulting in Council Taxes doubling (†) and a new “funding formula
skewered against Bexley and is still being felt. Is the Cabinet Member
concerned that history will repeat itself?”
Cabinet Member Leaf said that the last time there was a Minister for Local
Government who represented Woolwich and Greenwich as MP they did very well in the funding formula
and we lost out and the situation is exactly the same again. “That is a
concern.” Last time around the Labour Government cut the support for the Freedom
Pass and this time “they may force higher Council Tax as they did before” and we
should be wary of the devolution proposals which ”are quite vague”. Devolution in Bexley means more power for the Mayor.
The Mayor invited Councillor Rubella to speak - who is he? Stefano said
that everyone seems to have forgotten the past 14 years and he is happy to be a
Councillor under a Labour Government. (Cheers and applause from the obvious
suspects.) “Calm leadership will lead to better Local Government instead of managed decline.”
Cabinet Member Leaf responded with “in 2010 one pound in every four spent had to
be borrowed, a million young people were unemployed, an economy in decline and despite
those challenges plus Covid and Ukraine there are now record numbers in employment,
business in this borough is supported with Business Rate relief and they are now fearful of increased
taxation (loud Labour heckling) but when the next election comes the public will
be disappointed in the Labour Government and so will they” - pointing at Labour Members.
† Council Tax in Bexley more than doubled between
1997 and
2007.