Brent Central Conservatives released the foloowing Press Release yesterday
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The Conservative Prospective
Parliamentary Candidate for Brent Central has called for the Labour controlled
Brent Council to cease its internal argument over whether to raise the rate of
Council Tax by 1.99%, and instead to work together to reach a decision which is
best for the residents of Brent.
Dr Alan Mendoza, a former Brent councillor who announced that he would run as the candidate for Brent Central in January, made his call for unity after an anonymous letter emerged on community blog site WembleyMatters.blogspot.co.uk, claiming to be written by a current Labour councillor.
The letter has revealed an internal argument in Brent Council’s Labour Group, over whether to raise the rate of Council Tax, with backbench Labour councillors accusing the Council Leader Cllr Muhammed Butt and Deputy Leader Cllr Michael Pavey of refusing to accept a vote to raise the rate in order to protect Brent from further proposed service cuts.
The letter, which likens Cllr Pavey’s actions to those in George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm, claims that the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council refused “point blank” to allow the Council to vote on the Budget, and that, when members of the Labour Group did force a vote, the Leadership chose to “completely ignore it”. The letter also referred to the incident as “an affront to democracy” that will “will bring the council in disrepute.”
Dr Mendoza said: “This internal dispute is indicative of how the Labour controlled council is failing residents in Brent. Instead of working together to reach the best decision for Brent residents, it is focused on playing politics and squabbling amongst themselves.”
Speaking on the proposed increase in council tax, Dr Mendoza said: "The lie that Brent Council has no choice but to make massive cuts because of central government policy has been exposed by this rift in the Council's Labour Group. It turns out that this policy has been enforced by the Labour leadership against the will of backbench Labour councillors. I look forward to the 'nonaffiliated' anti-cuts group Brent Fightback organising its next march outside Cllr Butt's and Cllr Pavey's offices".
Dr Alan Mendoza, a former Brent councillor who announced that he would run as the candidate for Brent Central in January, made his call for unity after an anonymous letter emerged on community blog site WembleyMatters.blogspot.co.uk, claiming to be written by a current Labour councillor.
The letter has revealed an internal argument in Brent Council’s Labour Group, over whether to raise the rate of Council Tax, with backbench Labour councillors accusing the Council Leader Cllr Muhammed Butt and Deputy Leader Cllr Michael Pavey of refusing to accept a vote to raise the rate in order to protect Brent from further proposed service cuts.
The letter, which likens Cllr Pavey’s actions to those in George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm, claims that the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council refused “point blank” to allow the Council to vote on the Budget, and that, when members of the Labour Group did force a vote, the Leadership chose to “completely ignore it”. The letter also referred to the incident as “an affront to democracy” that will “will bring the council in disrepute.”
Dr Mendoza said: “This internal dispute is indicative of how the Labour controlled council is failing residents in Brent. Instead of working together to reach the best decision for Brent residents, it is focused on playing politics and squabbling amongst themselves.”
Speaking on the proposed increase in council tax, Dr Mendoza said: "The lie that Brent Council has no choice but to make massive cuts because of central government policy has been exposed by this rift in the Council's Labour Group. It turns out that this policy has been enforced by the Labour leadership against the will of backbench Labour councillors. I look forward to the 'nonaffiliated' anti-cuts group Brent Fightback organising its next march outside Cllr Butt's and Cllr Pavey's offices".
