28 April (Part 2) - More on that ‘posturing’ Motion
After the Labour Leader responded to Councillor
Richard Diment’s Motion
but notably did not contradict any part of it before announcing he could not
vote for it, it was the turn of Councillor Craske (Conservative, Blackfen & Lamorbey) to speak.
“Interesting in that speech the Leader of the Opposition didn’t once defend the
Labour Government. People cannot cope with the cost of living, that is why a
Labour Government will save 27,800 homes in Bexley £600 a year on their energy
bills. They are not my words obviously, they are the words of the Labour Group,
in fact they are the words of one of the Councillors who keeps chuntering on
over there. That pledge was made to every resident by the Members there. I
am going to do a little quiz here; if your energy bills have been cut by £600 a
year for the last two years, put your hands up. There you are. Nothing. Nothing but a broken promise.”
“The Labour Government will scrap tuition fees; another pledge made by the Labour
Group before the General Election, and what has happened with that pledge?
Tuition fees went up 3·1% a year twice. And are you ready for this one? The
Labour Government will freeze Council Tax for every family in Bexley. Another
pledge by the Members of the Opposition before the General Election. Has
this been delivered? Labour’s brutal cuts to Local Government have, as we have
heard, left us four to nine million pounds short, and then there is this one.
We won’t raise National Insurance and we will protect the Winter Fuel Allowance.
Have a guess how that one worked out. 36,000 Bexley residents could tell us. And
let’s not forget that while 36,000 people shiver, Labour MPs are kept warm by all their free clothes from Lord Ali.”
“They promised to crack down on the price of concert tickets but that all went
quiet when the Oasis tickets went on sale. We couldnְ’t get them or couldn’t
afford them and then it turns out the reason they all went quiet about it,
is because they are all going to their shows for free. They are just some of the
many reasons why I will not be voting for this Motion tonight.”
Labour Councillor Asunramu (Labour Thamesmead East said “I find it deeply
frustrating that we are spending time debationg a Motion that does little
to improive the lives of our residents and is simply political posturing ahead of
an election when we could be focusing on matters of real urgency. For example I
brought forward a Motion which will not be discussed on violence against women
and girls. An issue that affects real lives in Bexley every day. It is not a
marginal issue, it is a crisis. Residents in Bexley are not asking for political
theatre, they are asking for safety, support and leadership. Here in Bexley we
saw the loss of the Youth Club in Thamesmead East. I wrote to the Cabinet Member
and the Leader asking them to visit and there was no resonse. Do we care about
the young people of Thamesmead? Residents are not surprised, they have been ignored time and time again.”
Councillor Curtois said “he was surprised that the negative effects of the
Government being dismissed as posturing. So far Rachel Reeves has delivered two
budgets. She promised working people woudn’t pay more; let’s look at what she
delivered. NIC up to 15%. Thresholds slashed from £9,000 to £5,000. Every small
business, every care home in Bexley hit with tax that they didn’t see coming.
Fewer hours, smaller pay rises, redundancies.”
“She taxed good jobs and called It growth. Want to save? She will tax it away.
Family homes and inheritance, Capital Gains Tax up. IHT relief on family farms
drastically cut. The message is clear. If you worked hard and built something for
your family they will take more of it. Are Bexley residents better off? The IMF
has downgraded the growth forecast to the worst in the G7. This is not bad luck,
this is bad Government. People voted for a change. Let’s not make that mistake again on 7th May.”
Councillor Jeremy Fosten (Labour, Belvedere) said “with the freshest mandate I
feel most qualified to speak. This Motion is manifestly inappropriate. What
Councillor Diment is proposing is that the Council that counts the votes, that
certifies the results, the same Council that ratified the election of two Labour
MPs and one Conservative in this borough should turn around and tell voters they
were wrong. Let’s be clear, the Council is not a mouthpeicce of a dying
Conservative party. How is anybody meant to have confidence in this
Council’s ability to enact an impartial electoral process when the ruling party is
more interested in ensuring that same Council lashes out at its political
opponents. If uou have a genuine policy disagreement, that is fine; bring yopur
Motions, debate them but I don’t see how a Motion as vague as our growth
strategy is in any way helpful to the residents we come here to represent. But
if you want to debate whether a Labour Government is better than a Tory one,
let’s do that. We lifterd the two child benefit limit, you care more about
punishing parents than helping children. We passed the Emplooyers’ Rights Bill,
you care more about saving huge corporations a few quid. We passed the Renters’
Rights Act and good tenants will no longer be turfed out for no reason. I will
take this Labour Government over the achievement of 14 years of Conservatives every single time.”
The Council Leader summed up. “The Conservatives spoke the truth and Labour, in
some cases are bordering on delusional. There are fundamental flaws with this
Government and Councillor Diment tore them apart. We have residents in Bexley
pushed into hardship by this Labour Government. The renamed Household Support
Fund has been cut significantly.” Winter Fuel, £35 billion to give away the Chagos
Islands, the reduced funding formula for Bexley, widespread increased taxes,
higher Business Rates, no Council Tax freeze, no reduction in energy bills, green belt
under threat, all got a mentions. “Labour are puppets having their strings
pulled by Sadiq Khan and Keir Starmer. They have been defending the indefensible.”
The Motion was passed. Remaining Motions will not be carried forward to the next Council