Brent party leaders launch rare cross-party appeal on council funding

In a rare cross-party move the leaders of the three political leaders on Brent Council have written to the Chancellor outlining the desperate financial situation of the council, as  the budget crisis facing all local authorities intensifies.

Brent Labour issue press release glowing with self-praise

 

The Green Party's by-election candidates are standing to end Brent Council's democratic deficit

To borrow from Shakespeare, 'There is something rotten in the state of Brent', a fact confirmed to residents and campaign groups when they encounter the reality of the Labour Council's intractability whether on the closure of Strathcona school, regeneration projects , bulk waste chargesor the cutting down of street trees.

The Council is well entrenched with a massive majority which is reinforced by a structure that centralises power in a small group of councillors in the Cabinet and General Purposes Committee. The personnel are almost identical:

CABINET

 GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE

The Cabinet are all Labour and there is just one opposition member on the General Purposes Committee. Similarly there is only one Conservative member on the Planning Committee. Membership of committees reflects the proportion of seats won by the parties in the Council elections but I would argue that the Conservatives have failed to offer any rigorous challenge in their diminished role as the official opposition.

So what about some rigorous scrutiny of the Cabinet cabal's decisions by Labour backbenchers (up until the recent resignations there were 52 non-Cabinet members)? Well many have positions on various committees which attracts additional allowances and that may limit any public criticism, but those who do raise their voices find themselves at the mercy of the Labour Whip and the ire of Cllr Butt, the Labour leader.

Wembley Matters has covered Duffy's raising of issues such as asbestos in Paddington Cemetery, deficiencies in the Veolia waste contract and the Kingdom littering contract. He had the Labour whip removed and was not selected for the last Council election. LINK LINK

Cllr Zaffar van Kalwala fell out with Cllr Butt over personal issues but also over his championing of Stonebridge Adventure Playground which Butt succeeded in closing to the lasting detriment of the local community. There were allegations that Butt engineered the moving of a Full Council meeting  date to trap Kalwala via the non-attendance rules. Kalwala did not stand at the last Council election. LINK

Cllr Abdi Abdirazak fought back, without success, when Cllr Butt allegedly removed him from the Planning Committee for not voting for the planning application for a new Ark primary academy on the York House site in Wembley LINK

Cllr Sarah Marquis announced she would not stand again as  chair of Planning Committee after she had exercised her independence on several applications including voting against the Twin Towers on the Chesterfield House site and rigorously questioned planners over affordable housing. LINK
Marquis has resigned from the Council citing family reasons.

Cllr Michael Pavey eventually resigned from the Brent Cabinet saying he did not share Butt's approach to running the Council but had angered the leader over his support for a rise in Council Tax and the sanitising of his report into racism in Brent's Human Relations department. LINK LINK He has also resigned for family reasons.

Cllr Jumbo Chan currently stands out as a Labour councillor willing to question Council policy, most notably over academisation and the Strathcona closure but also more recently over street tree policy. Veteran councillor Janice Long also has her moments but has lost influence with the subsuming of what had been a separate Housing Scrutiny Committee, which she chaired, into a main Scrutiny Committee.

The two Scrutiny Committees do some useful working, particularly in task groups, but are handicapped when it comes to Cabinet decisions. They have the power to call-in such decisions and can make recommendations but these go back to the Cabinet which decides whether to accept them or not.

The Cabinet system centralises power in the hands of just 10 councillors, gives considerable power via appointments to the leader; diminishes the role of the backbencher in questioning decisions via the whipping system and limits them to mainly dealing with casework as the go-between between residents and council departments.  Councillors who disagree with decisions are reduced to deliberately  missing Full Council meetings or popping to the lavatory when key votes are taken so as not to be on record as defying the whip.

Something 'rotten'  indeed. In the absence of an effective opposition this blog has attempted to inform the public on some of the issues including fake consultations, too close relationship between the leader of the Council and developers and the scandalous decision to, in essence, return £15.8m Community Infrastructure Levy monies back to  Quintain for 'improvements' to Olympic Way including the cosmetic replacement of the Pedway by steps.

Some councils are rejecting the Cabinet system as undemocratic and returning to a modified form of the Committee system, often maintaining one or more Scrutiny Committees, which actively involves many more councillors in local government and this could be a medium term aim for Brent. Some form of proportional representation in local government in the longer term would ensure a wider spread of councillors and a broader democratic representation.

Meanwhile for an effective opposition unhampered by a whipping system and the leader's patronage I urge you to vote Green if you happen to be in one of the affected wards:

Alperton: Andrew Linnie
Barnhill: Martin Francis and Peter Murry
Wembley Central: William Relton

Did Labour's candidate for the Alperton by-election tweet admiration for Bob Blackman?

There may be more than one person with the name Chetan Harpale but if this is the same person who is standing for Labour in the Alperton by-election I am rather perplexed.

Expressing admiration for Bob Blackman, a right-wing pro-Modi Conservative (and ex leader of Brent Conservatives), who local Labour activists mobilised to unseat at the General Election may be one thing - but calling Jeremy Corbyn 'ProJihadis'...?

There is of course the possibility that the Twitter account was hacked and I will be happy to publish any clarification from the Labour Party.

The Twitter account @HarpaleChetan is now locked.

Harpale is standing to replace ex-Cllr James Allie who resigned under a cloud.

VIDEO: Brent Central election candidates battle it out at hustings

These days there are relatively few opportunities for the public to attend a hustings where they can listen to parliamentary candidates, question them and perhaps indulge in the old fashion political art of heckling. In the Brent constituencies there are more opportunities in the mainly Camden Hampstead and Kilburn seat, a few in Brent Central and often none in Brent North.

So it was welcome that Brent Trades Council, recognising this democratic deficit, organised a hustings for Brent Central voters. Unfortunately the Conservative candidate did not turn up. Candidates who originally agreed to attend: David Brescia (Conservative), Dawn Butler (Labour Party),William Relton(Green Party), Deborah Unger (Lib Dem),Chair:Mary Adossides,Brent Trades Council

Below you can find videos of the hustings featuring all the candidates introductions and responses to questions. Many thanks to Peter Murry for filming the meeting and making the video widely available.

Brent Trades Council hustings of Brent Central Parliamentary candidates in the General Election. Saturday 7th December 2019 Introduction by Chair: Mary Adossides, Brent Trades Council Opening remarks Dawn Butler (Labour Party) William Relton (Green Party) Deborah Unger (Lib Dem) url:https://youtu.be/1l6ZbnArhUY

Brent Trades Council hustings of Brent Central Parliamentary candidates in the General Election. Saturday 7th December 2019 Introduction by Chair: Mary Adossides, Brent Trades Council Questions: Climate change and pollution Dawn Butler (Labour Party) William Relton (Green Party) url:https://youtu.be/rkYTc9-3Wjw

Brent Trades Council hustings of Brent Central Parliamentary candidates in the General Election. Saturday 7th December 2019 Introduction by Chair: Mary Adossides, Brent Trades Council Questions: Austerity, Poverty, Arms exports,crime Dawn Butler (Labour Party) William Relton (Green Party) Deborah Unger (Lib Dem) url:https://youtu.be/tcpe1hD_O5M

Brent Trades Council hustings of Brent Central Parliamentary candidates in the General Election. Saturday 7th December 2019 Introduction by Chair: Mary Adossides, Brent Trades Council Questions: racism, refugees, migration, economics, education Dawn Butler (Labour Party) William Relton (Green Party) Deborah Unger (Lib Dem) url: https://youtu.be/8Uh1NYkyr-w

Brent Trades Council hustings of Brent Central Parliamentary candidates in the General Election. Saturday 7th December 2019 Introduction by Chair: Mary Adossides, Brent Trades Council Questions: NHS, closing remarks Dawn Butler (Labour Party) William Relton (Green Party) Deborah Unger (Lib Dem) url:https://youtu.be/RAPLNN1TPLs

Austerity hasn't ended! These are the services Brent Council will vote to cut tonight

The Council Meeting is at 6pm tonight at Brent Civic Centre, close to Wembley Stadium. You can watch live a transmission from the Council Chamber HERE Tweet comments using hashtag #BrentLive  There is a public meeting calling for a General Election to end Tory austerity on March 14th (DETAILS)

THE MAIN CUTS & JOB LOSSES IN BRENT

OVERALL REDUCTION IN BUDGET £20,900,000

OVERALL INCREASE IN COUNCIL TAX 5.77% (CHARGE WILL BE £1,582.85 ON BAND D PROPERTY)

CONSULTATION ON OPTIONS TO REDUCE COUNCIL TAX SUPPORT FOR 2020-21 MAKING NEEDY FAMILIES PAY MORE

CUT £180,000 TO END ZONE 5 (RESIDENTIAL STREETS) LITTER PICKING

CUT £70,000 BY REMOVING LITTER BINS IN THESE STREETS

CUT £200,000 BY MAKING PARKS MAINTENANCE REACTIVE ONLY

CUT £60,000 BY REDUCING OPENING HOURS OF ABBEY ROAD RE-USE & RECYCLING CENTRE

CUT £1,524,000 IN 2019-20 & £450,000 IN 2020-21 BY REMOVING 40 POSTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

CUT £400,000 IN 2020-21 BY REMOVING 12  BRENT MET PATROL PLUS OFFICERS FROM APRIL 2020

CUT £250,000 BY HANDING OVER ROUNDWOOD YOUTH CENTRE AND CUTTING TWO POSTS THERE

CUT £250,000 IN EARLY HELP SERVICES INCLUDING LOSS OF TWO JOBS

CUT £250,00 BY REDUCING CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE’S ‘NON-CASING HOLDING STAFF’ BY 5 POSTS

CUT £1,491,000  IN 2020-21 BY REDUCING TOTAL NUMBER OF CHILDREN’S CENTRES FROM 17 TO 8 - REPLACE WITH ‘HUB’ MODEL (NB TOTAL JOB LOSSES NOT SPECIFIED)

CUT £102,000 IN 2019-20 & £158,000 IN 2020-21 BY CUTTING GRANTS TO VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS

CUT £100,000 IN 2020-21 BY REDUCING COMMUNICATIONS STAFF BY 2-3 POSTS

CUT £450,000 BY REMOVING 5 POSTS IN POLICY, PERFORMANCE & PARTNERSHIP TEAM

CUT £60,000 BY REDUCING SCRUTINY COMMITTEE FROM 3 TO 2 & THUS CUTTING ONE OFFICER

CUT £275,000 IN 2019-20 & £225,000 IN 2020-21 BY CUTTING RESPECTIVELY 6 & 5 CUSTOMER SERVICE POSTS

CUT £200,000 IN 2020-21 THROUGH IN-HOUSE TRANSFER OF CAPITA COUNCIL TAX CONTRACT LOSS OF 5 POSTS

FULL DETAILS HERE

Will Brent Council follow Lambeth in fossil fuel divestment?

Cross-party and non-party campaigners for disinvestment

The Fossil Free Brent campaign will hopefully get a boost from the decision of Lambeth Council to end its pension fund investments in fossil fuel companies. Disinvestment makes sense not just in terms of fighting climate change but also in moving out of shares that will inevitably decline long-term as the climate crisis intensifies and there is a move to alternative energy production.

Brent Labour included disinvestment in its election manifesto and the council is believed to be looking at ways to implement the policy. Implementation is quite complex as investments need to be identified, often inside larger management funds, and Brent's has substantial funds invested via  the London-wide Collective Investment Vehicle, where control involves many boroughs.  Brent Council will need to join other boroughs, such as Lambeth,  in changing CIV investment policy.

THE LAMBETH STATEMENT

In Lambeth Labour’s 2018 manifesto we pledged to work towards divesting from fossil fuels, and invest our pension fund in a socially and financially responsible way. This was particularly thanks the tireless campaigning of my fellow Labour councillors and lobbying from local groups such as the Advocacy Academy.

Today, just a few months after we made that manifesto promise, we have clearly set out how we will implement it.

Firstly, pensions committee has unanimously agreed to sell over £200m of global equities investments and reinvest the money in a low carbon alternative. Several suitable alternatives have been identified – council officers have been asked to research them in more detail and a final decision as to where the money will be reinvested will be made at the next pensions committee meeting.

Secondly, pensions committee has unanimously agreed in principle to sell down its remaining global equities investments and reinvest the proceeds as soon as a suitable alternative becomes available within the London Pension Collective Investment Vehicle framework (the collective pensions body for London councils). Several suitable alternatives have been identified, and we will lobby the London CIV to include them or similar funds within its framework.

Finally, pensions committee has unanimously agreed in principle to sell down its remaining equity investments (these are in emerging markets), and reinvest the proceeds as soon as a suitable alternative becomes available within the London CIV framework. A suitable alternative has been identified, and we will lobby the London CIV to include it or a similar fund within its framework.

We believe this is the first time any UK local government pension fund has set out a clear roadmap, within its existing actuarial framework, that will allow it to fully divest all its shares and reinvest in low carbon alternatives. Crucially we are able to do this while fully protecting Lambeth council pensioners, current and future.

Lambeth is leading the way on the divestment agenda, with a clear plan to achieve our manifesto promise. Many pension funds now have policy in favour of divesting from carbon intensive fossil fuel shares, but we believe we are the first to set out exactly how we will do this. We will now focus on lobbying the London CIV to include at the earliest opportunity the funds that will allow us to complete our divestment process.

When it comes to action on climate change Lambeth walks the walk, we don’t just talk the talk. This is what happens when Labour is delivering in power rather than shouting on the sidelines like our opponents. I’m grateful to my fellow committee members and councillors who have lobbied on this issue for helping to make this a reality.

Councillor Iain Simpson, Chair of Lambeth Pensions Committee

-->The Divest Brent campaign has a Facebook site HERE and urge the public to support their petition HERE.

This is the text of the petition to Brent Council:
Brent Council should divest its pension fund from fossil fuel companies to protect the people of Brent. So we ask Brent Council to make a public divestment statement committing the Brent Pension Fund to:
1.  Immediately freeze any new investment in the top 200 publicly-traded fossil fuel companies with largest known carbon reserves (oil, coal and gas)
2.  Divest from direct ownership and any commingled funds that include fossil fuel public equities and corporate bonds in the top 200 list and shift these funds to lower risk, ethical investments before the May 2022 Council elections
3.  Advocate to other pension funds, including the London Pension Fund Authority and Local Government Pension Scheme members to do the same
4.  To do the above in a timely manner - by setting up a working group to report back on a strategy to bring about divestment within three months from the submission of this petition

Why is this important?

We believe divestment from fossil fuels to be not only ethically and environmentally correct, but also financially prudent.

Climate change is the greatest challenge humanity has encountered. The 20 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1981 and 2016 was the hottest ever . Higher average temperatures are directly linked to extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, floods and storms.

Scientists have unanimously concluded that these changes are a consequence of human activity, arising from the burning of fossil fuels. Moreover, this activity has resulted in unprecedented levels of air pollution, now regarded as a major world killer.

In a speech at Lloyd’s of London in September 2015, Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England said that by the time ‘climate change becomes a defining issue for financial stability, it may already be too late’. Carney warned investors that policies to address climate change ‘would render the vast majority of reserves ‘stranded’ – oil, gas and coal that will be literally unburnable’ .

In order to continue developing fossil fuel reserves – particularly in the difficult areas where the remaining reserves are located (including the Arctic, the mouth of the Amazon and tar sands in sensitive areas) the developing companies need investment – divestment is a way of cutting off the funds needed to carry out these damaging activities. It also sends a powerful signal to the companies and others that it is time to move away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy.

Labour sweeps the board in Willesden Green, Greens narrowly win second party status

Click on image to enlarge

Candidates in order of vote:

Click to enlarge

Parties in order of total vote:

Labour 4980
Green 795
Conservative 735
Lib Dem 627

Turnout was 25.49%

The overall message was of continued Labour dominance but Greens felt they had mounted a good campaign with fewer resources than other parties.

Green candidates William Relton and Shaka Lish with Martin Francis, Election Agent

Brent councillors declare support for Village School strikers

Letter in current Kilburn Times

Uo to now Cllr Jumbo Chan has been a lone Labour councillor voice in first of all supporting staff at The Village School in opposing academisation through a Multi Academy Trust, and then, when the school academised,  in supporting the strike aimed at safe-guarding working conditions.

Interestingly he has now been joined by 14 Labour colleagues including Michael Pavey and Roxanne Mashari who have both challenged Muhammed Butt for the leadership,  several newly elected councillors as well as veterans.

I hope this is a welcome sign of some independent thinking and action that will be carried through into other issues.

Labour tightens its grip on Brent, Tories reduced to 3, Lib Dems wiped out

With all election results in Labour has 57 seats on Brent Council, Conservatives three and Liberal Democrats and Greens none. Three more seats will be contested in the postponed Willesden Green election.

Labour took Brondesbury Park from the Conservatives but the Tories managed to hold on to Kenton.The Brondesbury Park result was keenly awaited because of the controversy over false rumours about the death of one of the Conservative candidates.  In the event the lowest Labour vote was 1660 and the highest Tory vote, for Carol Shaw, was 1567. John Warren, the leader of the Conservative Group lost his seat.

The Dollis Hill election was expected to be close between Labour and the Lib Dems but the highest Liberal Democrat, Alison Hopkins, at 1,355 was substantially behind the lowest Labour candidate who collected 2,100 votes.

In Kilburn John Duffy only managed 412 votes with the top Labour candidate gathering almost six times as many votes.

In Queens Park  the Women's Equality candidate had 626 votes against the top Labour vote of 1,862. Of the three Green candidates, PoppyStockbridge was top at 519 votes.

The result is likely to have an impact on the contest for the Labour Party leadership due to take place at tomorrow's Annual General Meeting.  I was unable to make much of a dent in Muhammed Butt's vote in Tokyngton but the turnout was the lowest in the borough.

FULL RESULTS HERE

Cllr Mashari launches Brent Council leadership bid as 'unity' candidate

Cllr Roxanne Mashari (Labour Welsh Harp) has announced that she will stand against Muhammed Butt for leadership of Brent Council at the Labour Group’s AGM on Saturday.

Mashari told the Kilburn Times LINK:

It’s a strictly positive campaign. I’m standing to try and be a unity candidate, build on the progress we’ve made since 2010 and take the council and the borough to the next level.
 
The scale of the challenges we face, we are going to have to be more transformative in our approach.
There are huge levels of destitution and poverty in the borough which are already too high, consistent in areas like South Kilburn, Stonebridge and Harlesden for decades. We have to change the story of this borough in fundamental areas.

I’m not talking about tinkering around the edges – I’m talking about a real shift in terms of how we operate and how we focus. 

This is not about disparaging anyone. It’s not to say we haven’t made progress or Cllr Butt hasn’t done good things. We are in a critical point in time for Brent with service savings to make, the universal credit roll-out, and foodbanks at capacity – now it’s time to take things up a step and be transformative. I want to see Brent be a flagship Labour council in the UK and that’s where I want to take us.

Kishan Parshotam, who co-chaired Brent Youth parliament with Cllr Mashari said:

Roxanne has always been a champion for equal rights. She was a fantastic Co-Chair of BYP and helped it go from strength to strength. She would be an admirable, and tenacious, leader of the Council during the next difficult chapter for our borough.

Cllr Mashari resigned from the Brent Cabinet in December 2016 LINK

Previous leadership bids by Cllr Nerva and Cllr Pavey have failed to remove Cllr Butt but there is increased disquiet now over his leadership particularly regarding the issues outlined in the article below and decisions such as that regarding the Wembley Stadium steps and meetings with developers.

Lib Dems mash up the stats in Mapesbury & launch 'red scare' attack

Bar charts on election literature are notorious for beiing 'a but dodgy' to say the least and are usually accompanied by 'Only XParty can win here!' or 'XParty can't win here'. The above from the Liberal Democrats is a good example with the added spice of a bit of 'red scare' propagands citing a potential Momentum 'control of Brent'.  On my reckoning there are only at the most two true Momentum supporters in the 63 strong Labout list. Furthermore, in my personal opinion, they would add a coorrective to the managerialist approach of the majority of Labour candidates.

So anyway how did the Lib Dems arrive at their bar chart?

They have added up the total votes of each party in the 2014 council election in the ward. As Greens fielded only one candidate and the others three each this puts Greens at the bottom below the Tories.

If, however, you list the candidates' individual results it gives a different picture  (from Brent Council website election results page):

The Green candidate vote was well above that of each of the three Conservative candidates and only 3% behind the lowest Liberal Democrat candidate.

This time round there are three Green candidates so a more representative bar chart could be made from May 3rd's results.

Meanwhile, as I said to a woman outside Willesden Green Sainsbury's yesterday, 'Yes, the Greens can win in Mapesbury.'

I should have added that the former Lib Dem councillor, turned Independent, for Mapesbury has said that she wants to see Greens on Brent Council.

Let the battle contine - on even ground...

Mapesbury hustings: Greens rap Butt

Green Party candidates for Mapesbury Ward, Scott Bartle and Lenia Evans, enlivened an otherwise bland hustings, with a rap inspired by Shaggy's 'It wasn't me', aimed at Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt, who by happenstance, was seated right in front of them.

There was a lot of common ground between the four parties represented at the hustings staged by Mapesbury Residents Association - let's face it no one is going to stand up and say, 'We want more potholes in Brent', or 'We want to make our air even more poisonous.'

The words (apologies to Shaggy)

S: One of the things that really gets us about this council, is that theres been a Labour majority since 2014 yet they just blame the Tories for everything that goes wrong. It's like they’ve gone to international pop sensation Shaggy for advice

L Cllr Butt, Mapesbury caught me

S: You let them catch you?

L: I don’t know what to do…

S: Just say it wasn’t you

L: A Failed waste strategy?

S: It wasn’t me.

L: £200K lost on Kingdom Security?

S: It wasn’t me

L: An £18million giveaway in Wemberly

S: It wasn’t me

L: Potholes make me drive wobbly

S: It wasn’t me.

L: Cutting £1.2Mil from youth facilities

S: It wasn’t me

L but finding £2.3million for CCTV?

S: It wasn’t me

L Developers acting irresponsibly

S: It wasn’t me

L  Trying to demolish the Queensbury?

S: It wasn’t me.

L: Closed 6 of our libraries

S: It wasn’t me

L: Keep on blaming the Tories

S: It wasn’t me

L: You gotta take some responsibility

S: It wasn’t me.

L: The quality of the air we breathe, the condition of the pavements, the state of housing, potholes in the road, vandalism, crime and litter are all environmental issues. If anyone will solve these problems it will be us. We hope to tell you more about this through the course of the evening.

 

Was Brent's £17.8m decision on the Pedway steps legal?

Paul Lorber, former leader of the Lib Dem-Coalition adminstration of Brent Council has wrotten to officers asking for a legal opinion on the Council's decision to pay £17.8 of CIL money for the replacement of the Wembley Stadium Pedway by steps.

Lorber writes:

You may be aware that Mr Martin Francis uncovered a Quintain Press Release from 2007 [Ed: see below] claiming a big Private Investment in replacing the pedway to Wembley Stadium with steps.

The Council’s Local Plan Framework from 2009 refers to the Pedway as a developer works to be funded by the developer. There was no indication of any Brent responsibility for this or any indication of S106 funding or other Brent Council contribution. The estimated cost in 2009 was £10 million. 

In view of this, and other Brent Council cost pressures and priorities (including £100 million backlog of repairs to pavements and roads) it seems odd that officers could recommend and Councillors could accept handing over £17.8 million of public money to Quintain for what they claimed to be works funded by private investment.

Can you confirm if legal opinion has been obtained confirming that this proposed payment is legal and within the powers of Brent Council to make. Have the Council’s Auditors been consulted so that they can consider the issue of value for money or/and appropriate use of scarce Council resources.

If this has not been done can you consider obtaining such a Legal Opinion and advice/guidance from the Council’s Auditors.

If you do not intend to obtain the advice please provide details (including email) of the Auditors so that I can pursue this as a local taxpayer.

NEU call on Brent Labour leadership to follow Corbyn's policy on privatisation of education ahead of Village school strike

From the National Education Union in Brent
 

-->

Staff at The Village School in Kingsbury, Brent have voted to take strike action against the proposal to turn the school into an academy, part of a Multi Academy Trust (MAT). Unless the proposal to become a MAT is withdrawn, NEU* staff will strike before Christmas.

John Roche, NEU ATL section Brent Secretary said:

The school passed its last Ofsted in with an ‘Outstanding’ judgement in all categories in October 2016 so clearly there is no educational reason to seek to become an academy. Furthermore, Brent Local Authority has put millions of pounds into this special school and now a state asset, our asset, is proposed to be privatised. Staff ask why is a Labour Authority not up in arms at this attempt to foist a Tory policy on one of their schools?

Lesley Gouldbourne, NEU NUT section Brent Secretary said:

The Government’s academy programme has proved a corrupt shambles that has done nothing to improve education and lacks accountability, in particular with finances. The Wakefield City Academy Trust (WCAT) has collapsed leaving 21 schools in chaos affecting 8500 children. Joining a MAT means all the school’s assets and any surpluses are handed over. A small group of unaccountable, unelected trustees control the finances. I am also finding it hard to understand why a Labour Council is not opposing the privatisation of this jewel in Brent's crown, especially at a time when it is taking other services back in-house. Cllr Butt has not replied to my email about this.

A report on BBC news in Leeds and West Yorkshire stated, “During a Wakefield Council meeting it was claimed that the Trust (WCAT) moved millions of pounds of school reserves into its centralised accounts prior to collapse. Leader Peter Box said he would be talking to the police about his concerns”. 

Hank Roberts, NEU ATL section London Executive said:

The NEU believes that the Labour Council leadership is not following the democratically established overwhelming majority of Brent Labour Party members that oppose the loss of more Council LA controlled schools to be handed over to be privately run by Trusts. This is clear from the resolutions passed unanimously at Brent LP meetings and the London Region of the LP. Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition to the privatisation of state education has been made clear. Instead, it appears that they are doing the bidding of senior paid Council employees with an agenda.

Tulip Siddiq in media storm after Channel 4 News report last night

Hampstead and Kilburn MP, Tulip Siddiq, finds herself amidst a media storm today after her interview on Channel 4 News last night. Labour supporters have joined in condemnation of both her defensive reaction to questions and her parting comment to the pregnant Channel 4 News producer, although others have come to her defence. (See the comments by clicking on her tweet)

My statement on Channel 4's news report last night pic.twitter.com/fODWYgxATU

— Tulip Siddiq (@TulipSiddiq) November 29, 2017

TUSC sweep to victory

The Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) may not have stood in the General Election but this did not stop them sweeping to victory in the election held at Queens Park Community School on Wednesday.

The result was:

TUSC                              123
Labour                              83
Womens Equality Party   56
Liberal Democrats           49
Green Party                      42
Sinn Fein                          17
Spoilt papers                      6

The TUSC candidates Femi and Sean will now meet with the headteacher to discuss their policies asking for shorts to be allowed as regular uniform in hot weather and for the freedom to eat lunches anywhere in school.

TUSC standing in Brent election

When I was a teacher I always enjoyed running mock school elections. They are a great educational resource combining an introduction to democratic processes (and their limitations) and writing, speaking and debating skills. I was interested to see campaigning posters at Queens Park Community School when I attended Education Question Time at the school on Friday.

TUSC is standing in the school election although they are standing down nationally in order to back a Corbyn led government LINK.

The election will be held on June 7th, the day before the General Election proper and I look forward to hearing the result.

These are the Lib Dem and Labour posters. I will be happy to publish any from other parties standing at the school that weren't on display in the foyer.

Brent Central candidates have their say on the school funding issue

With some hustings cancelled due to the Manchester incident last night was one of the few chances to hear from Brent Central's General Election candidates.

It was a sometime rumbustious meeting but well chaired by Lucy Cox with Labour supporters in the majority. I am afraid my camera work is very shaky as a result from being fresh out of hospital and failed completely when the Ukip candidiate began to speak. My apologies.

This extract focuses on school funding which is very much the question of the moment although of course the purpose and focus of education is also a matter of debate.

I will be publishing more of what Shaka Lish the Green Party had to say on the Brent Green Party blog LINK

Labour's selection for Kenton ward

Kenton ward selection for Labour candidates for  Brent Council 2018 local elections: Syed Alam, Nyela Reid, Rajan Seelan