Month: November 2011

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notes from JK

Open letter to Labour councillors

We sent this to Labour councillors:

Dear Labour colleagues

In the coming weeks we will be immersed in debating proposals for the next two years’ worth of council budgets. This will be incredibly challenging as the coalition government is forcing massive cuts on our council. The council will have to reduce its spending by about £20m this year and £17m next year.

The local Conservative party clearly support the cuts being imposed by the coalition government. They would like us to cut an additional £5.4m in services over two years to pay for a one-off council tax freeze.

Greens believe in protecting public services. What does Labour believe? We call on Labour Councillors to work constructively with us to set a budget which protects services and refutes Tory policies.

Residents, staff and service users need a clear, orderly budget process in these difficult times. Will Labour Councillors put tribal party politics to one side and work with Greens to protect vital public services, especially for the most vulnerable in our city?

Yours sincerely
The Green Group of Councillors
Brighton & Hove City Council

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notes from JK

Rebutting Labour lies in Westbourne

Labour have got themselves in a tizz saying that I’m somehow “intimidating the opposition”  by tweeting that they were lying. Is one tweet from me so scary?!

 

They aren’t happy about my statement in relation to their campaigning in the Westbourne by-election. Rather than sensibly backing away from their falsehoods, I shall have to expose them further in public. Labour were serially dishonest in both last year’s general election and the local elections this year. It did them a great disservice and the results spoke volumes as to how ineffective their approach was. I suppose I should be thankful as Greens did well out of it. But I think we are all reduced when political discourse descends into outright falsehood. Each party have their own great traditions and histories – they should build on that to make their distinctive cases for how they can improve the city. Lying about the competition doesn’t help the voters decide and it doesn’t move the debate forward.

 

Let’s look at the claims, some of which are on their Facebook page, others are in their leaflets which aren’t online.

 

LABOUR CLAIM: Greens refused government funding for a new school in Hove.

GREEN ANSWER: False. The government aren’t offering funding. If we want a new school then all we are allowed to do is run a contest for which independent providers bid to run an academy funded direct from central government, not through the council. There would be no democratic control over this school and they wouldn’t need to use our city-wide admissions scheme, so there would be no guarantee it would solve the problems. Labour’s “proposed co-operative school” would be an academy which teaching unions, the Greens and now even Jamie Oliver* oppose as a retrograde step for public education.

Furthermore Labour were the ones who caused the schools shortage. When in administration they ignored warnings from midwives and GPs that a baby boom was starting in 2005/6. Even worse, only five years ago, they actually closed a major secondary school in Brighton (Comart). Which is why there aren’t enough places to absorb pupil numbers.

There are actually enough school places for everyone but the real issue is that they might not be at a parents’ first choice school. Building a new school would not solve that. We are working hard to solve the issues in the school system. Labour have some gall claiming to have a solution to the problem they caused!

*Oliver has flagged that academies don’t need to adhere to national school food standards, and many academies aren’t.

LABOUR CLAIM: The Greens promised a new secondary school and new primary school for Hove.

GREEN ANSWER: Debatable. We did not promise these in the May Council elections. We said it during the 2010 parliamentary elections before the Tories came to power and stopped local authority school funding. We did not get elected to the City Council on this ticket as by then we knew the school-building programme had been ground to a halt by Michael Gove.

 

LABOUR CLAIM: Labour will put an end to portakabin classrooms.

GREEN ANSWER: False. There are no portakabin classrooms in Hove at the moment. This is just dishonest scaremongering. And Labour are the smallest party on the council, so how exactly would they propose to change matters?

 

LABOUR CLAIM: Greens have plans to cut Sure Start funding at Conway Court

GREEN ANSWER: False. The Sure Start programme created children’s centres. There are no threats to the Conway Court children’s centre which was funded by Sure Start.

 

LABOUR CLAIM: Labour are “campaigning to protect the NHS from Tory cuts and privatisation.”

GREEN ANSWER: Highly debatable. When Cllr Sven Rufus and I presented a motion to full council opposing NHS privatisation, the Labour group of councillors voted AGAINST it and the most vociferous speech against the motion was by a Labour councillor.

Furthermore BBC Newsnight and the Spectator have both shown how Labour’s own economic plans are less than 1% of GDP away from the Tory cuts plans now underway. They planned to cut by nearly as much.

 

LABOUR CLAIM: Labour are against Green’s “record Council Tax”

GREEN ANSWER: Really?! In the ten years of Labour control, council tax rose 120%. Greens are proposing a below inflation increase of 3.5%. If Labour are supporting the Tory government’s tax freeze grant then they should list the £5.4m of additional service cuts they support – which is what the council would need to do to be able to afford the grant, or an at least 8% increase in council tax the year after. Which is it Labour?

Labour state that Tory cuts should not be passed on to residents through council tax. They also claim to be against inflationary increases in parking fees, yet when in administration Labour increased tax and parking charges with great gusto. Balancing the budget in the face of cuts with no increases in fees or council tax would require devastating service cuts. I look forward to Labour explaining which ones, I’m sure the unions would like to know too.

The table below shows the council tax increases for every Labour-led budget in Brighton & Hove since the city council was created. The Green proposal of 3.5% is below EVERY SINGLE ONE of their tax increases.

Year % Increase
1997/98
1998/99 9.8
1999/00 7.2
2000/01 12.5
2001/02 6.0
2002/03 10.9
2003/04 14.5
2004/05** 7.7
2005/06 4.8

** Includes notional adjustment for Fire

 

LABOUR CLAIM: Greens are pushing Brighton & Hove to be the only council in the country to refuse the government tax freeze grant.

GREEN ANSWER: False. A recent survey showed that up to 20% of councils are likely to refuse the tax freeze grant. We are not the only ones and this has been widely reported in all the major media.

 

LABOUR CLAIM: Greens promised to “resist all cuts”.

GREEN ANSWER: False. We didn’t and I have repeatedly told Labour this is a lie, but they persist. As Labour well know, the law has changed and if councillors do not set a budget then the government will impose one on us. Greens promised to “resist, to the greatest extent possible, the service cuts and privatisation imposed [on us]” and that is what we will do.

 

LABOUR CLAIM: Why did the Greens say before the elections they wanted Brighton and Hove to be a “zero waste city”, but now insist that is “clearly impossible”?

GREEN ANSWER: False. We have never said it is “clearly impossible”. They also seem to not know what this refers to. In 2008 the then Labour environment minister Hilary Benn announced that councils could get pilot funding to become a “zero waste place”. Our proposal was to achieve this funding, however the new government have currently stopped this programme. We remain absolutely committed to reducing waste.

 

LABOUR CLAIM: Greens set the date of the by-election.

GREEN ANSWER: False. The by-election was called by the unexpected resignation of a Conservative councillor. When the by-election is held is at the discretion of the Returning Officer (the Council’s Chief Executive) within limits set down by law. It is NOT at the discretion of the Green administration, which would clearly be inappropriate.

 

LABOUR CLAIM: Greens wanted the by-election early to avoid debating the budget.

GREEN ANSWER: False. The budget will be published on 1st December, the earliest a detailed budget plan has ever been published by this council. We want to debate and consult on the proposals. This date is well before any possible date for the by-election could have been.

 

I make that 8 outright lies and the rest are debatable. So no Labour, I won’t retract my comments. But now that I’ve pointed out your dishonesty, will you may any retractions or correction?

UPDATE: To include link explaining Jamie Oliver’s views on academies.

UPDATE 2: Added table of Labour council tax increases during their time in administration.

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notes from JK

The £3m grant that would cost our council £5.4m

At the Conservative Party conference this autumn ministers announced a new gimmick: a council tax freeze grant. If councils agreed to keep council tax at the same rate as the previous year they would get a grant worth the equivalent of a 2.5% increase, for one year only.

On the face of it a clever way to show that Conservatives care about the squeezed middle classes in the face of increased inflation. Yet the harsh reality is this scheme doesn’t make financial sense for councils, and is yet another way the government are slashing budgets for local services. And in the long run it would likely lead to even greater council tax increases.

It’s absolutely clear to me that Greens were voted the largest party on Brighton & Hove City Council because of our commitment to public services and resisting the Tory agenda of “small government”. Residents expect us to use our Green values to fight for the fairest possible settlement in the face of unprecedented cuts from central government.

The tax freeze grant is another attack, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, which we oppose.

Why is it bad for the council? Because it would over 2 years cost us £5.4m, and more over the longer term. Let’s explore that in detail with an imaginary council called Picklesville with a £100 of income this year from council tax.

For the next year the councillors in Picklesville can either take the government’s grant worth a 2.5% increase or go with the Green option of a 3.5% increase.

If they take the government route they will receive £100 + £2.50 = £102.50 (£2.50 being the 2.5% grant from government).

If they go the Green route they will receive £100 + £3.50 = £103.50 (£3.50 being the 3.5% increase on council tax).

The next year the Picklesville councillors again need to decide on council tax. If they went for the government grant, that is now gone. So to catch up in the face of continued reductions in their formula grant (the other main source of income for councils other than charges) they decide to put council tax up by the maximum allowed, which is 3.5%. However because of last year’s freeze the starting point hasn’t moved. So they will receive £100 + £3.50 = £103.50 (£3.50 being the 3.5% increase on council tax over the previous year).

If they had gone the Green route then, still facing huge cuts in formula grant, they also decide to increase council tax by 3.5% so they receive £103.50 + £3.62 = £107.12 (£3.62 being the 3.5% increase on council tax over the previous year), quite a bit more than the other option.

These are of course hugely simplified numbers, but if you think in millions of pounds you can see that just freezing for one year (which every council already did for this financial year) leaves councils way behind each year, even if they keep increasing council tax. For Brighton & Hove accepting the one year freeze grant would mean £5.4m less income over 2 years. As we need to find savings of about £35m for the next two financial years, that £5.4m is money we can ill afford to give up.

With inflation running at over 5% and councils not allowed to increase council tax beyond 3.5%, council income is falling further and further behind the increasing costs our service providers are experiencing, even if we do increase tax by as much as we’re allowed.

The difference for the average council tax paying household in the city will be 57p a week, but the council can collectively use all those extra pennies to great use in protecting services and jobs the Tories would rather we axed. I’ve challenged the local Tories to list the extra £5.4m of service cuts they would propose if we adopt the grant as they are advocating.

Brighton & Hove is not the kind of place where we want to give up on the elderly, marginalised or vulnerable – those most in need of help. We believe in civilisation, in public service and the greater good.

A £3m grant that loses us £5.4m is not a good deal, how could it be? Accepting it would be agreeing to more Tory cuts, and acquiescing to the cynical politics of the Coalition government. As a Green, I resist.

(For the next 6 days you can watch the BBC Politics Show’s take on this here from the 38 minute mark)

UPDATED 26/11/2011: Revised figures now show the lost income from taking the grant would be £5.4m (this post originally had the figure at £4m). I also have clarified the difference in cost to be 57p per household (previously I referred to tax payer which is imprecise as council tax applies to properties and not people).

Local Government Chronicle has also shot a hole through Tory rhetoric that “Greens are the only ones” taking this approach, their survey shows 20% of councils (2/3rd of which are Tory led) are likely to reject the freeze grant. Furthermore many who said they would take the grant admitted it would lead to higher tax in future years. Exactly as I have said all along…

UPDATE 5/12/11: This interesting piece shows that most of the freeze grant has been taken from local government pensions funds. Completely unethical especially given the government rhetoric about the funds being a ‘burden’ which need more contributions.