Last night's Brent Council Budget Setting meeting was different from others during the last more than a decade because for the first time an alternative was presented by a party to the left of Labour.
It was clear that in this, the last Full Council meeting before the May election, the move of five Labour councillors to the Green Party, riled the Labour leadership. They wanted to paint their move as opportunist rather than a matter of principle connected to Labour's national and local failings. Some Labour councillors looked a little shame faced during these attacks.
Deputy Leader Cllr Mili Patel, likened the three opposition parties to characters from the Wizard of Oz, quite forgetting that the real Wizard of Oz in her scenario, was in fact Cllr Muhammed Butt who was sitting next to her.
The election campaign has already seen some tricky moves by Labour including the release of Community Infrastructure Levy funds for pre-election improvements previously deemed impermissable, Labour election leaflets published with green colours rather than red, and Brent Council publicity on social media and in the Brent Magazine featuring plenty of pictures of Brent councillors claiming credit for various initiatives. Not an equal playing field.
The Brent Budget Debate was similarly unbalanced with Labour Cabinet Lead after Cabinet Lead extolling their own virtues with quote after quote listing the millions they were spending for the people of Brent, quite forgetting it was the people's money they were spending not the party's.
Cllr Muhammed Butt and Cllr Krupa Sheth feature
Those pre-election CIL funds and Cllr Krupa Sheth again
Designed to deceive? No, surely not?
Lib Dems and Greens voted against each other's alternative budgets last night and the details were different. However, there were some common themes regarding the importance of truly affordable housing (Greens want a separate Housing Scrutiny Commitee), environmental initiatives and reviewing the mayoral roles and finances.
Room for cooperation once elected?
20 comments:
Well done Greens. Historic. Can we read the Green budget, and the lib dem one?
A need for May 7 voters to remember which political parties championed Brexit, resulting in massive food prices inflation and...
Funding and social policies to make the tower lord zones of Brent into liveable neighbourhoods.
Saw an article about a new 2.8 mile cable car in the permanent development zones Paris, where users just pay a bus fare to travel fast. To build it cost £128.8 million. The distance from Harlesden Old Town (taking in the Willesden Junction car-free housing tower lands and Britain's new biggest railway station Old Oak Common) and on to Wormwood Scrubs Great Park is 0.4 miles. So, £18.4 million if the French contractor got the work, probably several £ billion if kept 'in house'. Hence why Brent is social excluded from major public transport investments to support its car-free tenanted towers growth transition in C21.
Where are the Green party equalities strong policies for Brent car-free tower zones (many hundreds of air space time renters living at £350,000 plus a pop tower excluded)?
Coalitions with the Lib Dems have an unfortunate history. I'd steer clear!
Get really fed up with people throwing around the term “austerity” in this debate.
Austerity is a proper noun and it has a specific meaning. It’s doesn’t just mean “a policy or position I dislike”.
Austerity is a deliberate and long term plan to cut public spending year on year.
The Labour government have raised public spending by about £70bn since last July, and have done so by asking those with the broadest shoulders to pay a bit more by levying taxes on private schools (like the one the leader of the Greens attended), abolishing the non doms status, adding taxes to private jets and instituting a mansion tax.
They’ve also changed the capital spending rules so we’re investing about £100bn a year more in infrastructure like pylons and wind farms.
No rational person could say that is austerity. We need to be careful with our words.
Labour really needs to get a move on changing reform policies and RIGHT decision maker dominance. The media seems only interested in forcing leadership chaos.
Space time renters (paying £350,000 plus for that air space limited right) in towering population growth zones, need neighbourhood investment by state policies. Car-free towers must mean more than no sunlight alleys between packed-in towers, segregated othering zones- inequalities machines.
The Great West Tower Hundreds (6 borough) City needs a movement plan, a parks and green spaces plan too.
Incurious Brent councillors happy with do nothing, that while Hammersmith and Fulham and Ealing plug into government resources to make this new car-free housed C21 City civil, human, liveable, lovable neighbourhoods.
Labour also hiked up employer national insurance contributions which meant businesses could not invest money in their staff and lead to the loss of thousands of jobs.
Labour are pricing businesses out of business!
Lib Dems voting against the Green budget shows how much they will foreve be on the wrong side of history. The byelection result in Manchester where Green was elected shows Lib Dems are a busted flush. The Green Party must serve us all a full slate for the forthcoming local elections. Labour have lost all 200 of their last local electiobs byelections too.
The Green Party May 7th elections should pledge strong equalities policies for Brent car-free tower zones (many hundreds of air space time renters living at £350,000 plus a pop in towers excluded/ shut-out of welfare state infrastructure by bad growth design).
The Tubbs Lane Harlesden Old Town to Wormwood Great Park cable car, on route over rail junctions, taking in stops for car-free Housing Lord Towers, Willesden Junction station and Old Oak Common, Britain's biggest station.
Declare that the Brent South boundary is no longer to be the North Korea/ South Korea border for regional/ national decision makers.
Reinstate and renew the three children's playgrounds stolen from South Kilburn peoples lives.
Pledge that the 8 Brent growth zones will be funded to be neighbourhoods with an equitable quality of life/ assisted living provision to that already being delivered in Brent conservation areas. Conservation for all Brent families lives
Was funny to see Robert Peston going full Farage (just escaped form the races at Plumpton) dress code on the ITV News last night. Backing the wrong horse?
Labour still maintaining it has the RIGHT policies. Tell us something new.
(..just escaped from...)
Backing the RIGHT horse very tired policies of turbocharged inequalities.
Maybe UK joining in with Team Middle East Empire expansion is also now off?
Editor: Do Brent Green Group have any comments on the byelection victory?
E.g. Labour: coming to get you.
You know Brent Labour would have released a press statement if they won.
The local elections could prove 'apocalyptic' for Labour, it was warned.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15600323/Starmer-death-Farage-Greens-local-elections.html
We can only hope
The muslim community have left labour
They left over the Iraq War a few years ago and then returned. Not very reliable or principled unfortunately. Support here today but gone tomorrow. Will the majority of Muslims support the Greens on Gay and Trans rights for example?
https://electionmaps.uk/byelections-since-le2025#google_vignette
Anonymous comments may excite the writer but they are often misleading.
While Labour and the Tories lost a great many of local by-elections in 2025 it was the Liberal Democrats who WON a very much larger number than the Greens. Winning one national by-election does not automatically convert to winning any of the 57 Council seats up for grabs in Brent on 7 May. The best hope for Labour is of course a divided opposition.
Well the Lib Dem policy of protecting pensioners incomes is still in place, the pupil premium for school is also still being paid - sadly the policy of increasing personal tax allowance to protect the low paid from tax has been scrapped by Labour. The story of 'one party' government - Tory or Labour - of recent years is not a great one as the country is plunged from one U turn or Scandal to the next.
because of Middle East Imperial Wars
The Deputy Leader of The Green Party, Mothin Ali is a proud Muslim. His response to lgbtiq policy pledges are here https://lgbtiqa.greenparty.org.uk/2025-hustings/pledges/deputy-leader/
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