As predicted the Labour Group with its massive majority pushed through the reduction in Opposition time to speak on the budget at last night's Full Council meeting.
The cut in Council Tax support was also passed despite hitting the poorest most in the borough's most deprived wards. A few councillors from those wards looked a little embarrassed but none abstained on proposals that had been overwhelmingly rejected by residents in the 'consultation' and expert advice from Brent Citizens' Advice Bureau.
Similarly, the alternative budget proposals by Conservative and Liberal Democrat groups were dismissed and voted down. The 'debate' on the budget was dominated by a 20 speech by Muhammed Butt and a long commentary by Cllr Mili Patel, Cabinet Lead on Finance, about the Tory Prime Ministers of the last decade or more with little additional budget information of interest to Brent resident. They were followed by a troupe of Cabinet Ministers reading speeches from their smart phones.
It was left to a four-minute exchange between the Auditor and Cllr Paul Lorber (Lib Dem Group Leader) to inject something of value into the 2 hours plus meeting.
I have preserved the exchange in the video above (they have a time limited existence on the Council website) as it is of interest in terms of transparency and accountability in the future.
The Auditor said that the issue of £4m loss in the abandoned Stonebridge Altimira project had not been referred to him by the Council. If the evidence was forwarded to the auditors, they would consider if there were any audit actions required.
On the issue of councillors' declarations of gifts and hospitality the Auditor said that they had remarked that they were 'light on detail' in the level of disclosure and that there was scope for more detail to be provided in the more complex arrangements. Readers interested in the fairground and sports and concert ticket giveaways will be pleased that this is receiving attention.
Lastly, the Auditor said that they had not been asked to consider the Barham Park Trust account but because the Trust was associated with the Council, they could consider them if there were any concerns
5 comments:
Once again, the Lib Dems are trying to rewrite reality because they cannot accept that Brent residents overwhelmingly chose a Labour administration to lead. Labour is making the tough decisions necessary to protect vital services in the face of brutal Tory cuts. Cuts that the Lib Dems enabled when they propped up David Cameron’s government. The hypocrisy is staggering.
Let’s be clear. The alternative budget proposals from the Tories and Lib Dems were voted down because they were unworkable, unserious, and did nothing to address the real challenges Brent faces. This is not about transparency. It is about sore losers throwing a tantrum because they are not in power. If they really cared about the most vulnerable, maybe they would not have helped unleash a decade of austerity that left councils across the country struggling to provide essential services.
As for the cheap shots about speeches and smartphones, perhaps if the opposition spent more time working on policies that actually benefit residents instead of moaning on Facebook, they would not be so irrelevant in Brent politics. Though I can’t blame the Greens as they don’t even have a twitter/x presence. Labour is governing. The Lib Dems are whining. The people of Brent can see the difference.
We have a Labour Council, a Labour Mayor and a Labour Government - so surely any "brutal" cuts are being made by Labour and NOT anyone else.
It seems ironic (and disgusting) that while Labour pushed through their massive CUT in Council Tax Support for the poorest people in Brent they also voted to INCREASE their Councillor Allowances.
I see that Butt keeps saying the 14 years of Tory austerity has lead us to be where we are today in Brent but he & others of the same political spectrum fail to mention why we had austerity cuts in the first place in the UK, some people have conveniently forgotten that the Labour government up to 2010 left this country literally bankrupt. Have we forgotten the note left for the new chancellor George Osbourne on his first day in the job….’Sorry, there’s no money left’.
Austerity started in 2008 under a Labour Government after they paid out £100 billion + to bail out the banks. The same greedy banks who caused the Financial Collapse in the first place. . Ordinary people are still paying for that Labour give away.
No one is re-writing the fact that Labour squandered £4 million of residents money on the Altamira project without delivering a single much needed new home. It is a fact. It highlights the sheer incompetence of the Labour Leadership in Brent - and no amount of jerrymandering by the Labour Leader will stop the Liberal Democrats exposing the truth.
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