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13/05/2010 Statement to Council Leslie Christie Leader of the Labour Group Kent County Council.
Many things seem to have happened since last we met and not too many of them connected directly to Local Government. The last few days in particular have made it difficult to prepare anything with any certainty that it would be relevant by the time it came to be said.
There was a short period when I could not decide whether to embrace Trudy (Mrs Dean) and her Group or to condemn her and her Group. That is now an easy choice! You will be relieved to know Trudy that I will not be embracing you! Or your Group!
Now that the new CONDEM coalition exists at National level can I offer some sympathy borne of 13 years hard experience, to most of you who have never held Local Government office at a time when your Party forms the National Government. I can say with some confidence that no living Liberal Democrat has been in that position. It will prove not quite so easy to pass the buck and blame the National Government for what goes wrong and claim credit for what goes right. In the future, or at least for the next 6 months that is my Group’s role!
Before commenting any further on the National position there are 3 issues I wish to raise which does directly affect Kent and Kent County Council. One is the issue of so-called “Free Schools” and the almost cringing embarrassment I felt for the Leader of our Council when he did the quickest U Turn in history during the election campaign. The fact of the matter is for once Mr Carter was right. There is no such thing as a Free School. It has to be paid for and as there is little likelihood of additional money being thrown at it by this slash and burn Government the other schools will suffer. Once again the schools in areas of deprivation and poorer pupils will suffer. Mind you this is no surprise under a Government led by two men who never attended a state school in their life and lead a parliament with over 33% of the MPs having attended fee-paying schools ( the national figure is 7%). If however you take the two parties forming this Government the figure rises to over 40% of their MPs attending fee-paying schools. If I accused Mr Carter of a U-turn I have to say that only last week the other party was opposing this concept of Free Schools. At least my Group will continue defending and fighting for the interests of the majority of pupils in Kent.
Another area of concern is the issue of Serious Case Reviews. I will try to be very careful in what I say but at Cabinet Scrutiny on 9th April we discussed protocols for membership information and we were promised copies of the Executive Summary of the Tiffany Sellman-Burdge case which had already been in the media before Members were informed. To date no such copy of the Executive Summary has been made available to me either as a Member or Group Leader. There has been no response to the Recommendations of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee. My concern is that I am aware of another Serious Case Review which is currently underway affecting my constituents and I would like these protocols cleared before this case hits the headlines. I look for your support in achieving this.
Thirdly can I express my concern at a recent report on Radio Kent which reported that a Grandmother had won the legal right to be paid the same amount as a foster carer for looking after her 15 year-old grand daughter. The potential costs of this must be frightening. It is reported that KCC are seeking permission to appeal the decision. I would ask that Members be kept informed of any progress on this issue.
Finally let me return to the events of last Thursday and since. It is clear that in Local Government it is now down to the Labour Party to defend council tax-payers against the worst excesses of a newly converted slash and burn Government. We will do this and it as well that despite practically no reporting by the state - supporting media there were Local Government elections on the 6th May. It is worth noting that in these elections Labour Gained Control of 15 councils and increased their number of Councillors by over 400, mainly at the cost of the new CONDEM Grouping – their best result since 1996. The fight back has already started and I am sure everyone here would wish to congratulate the Labour Council of Barking and Dagenham for seeing off all 12 of the viscious and facist BNP and Margaret Hodge for increasing her majority against the gang leader Nick Griffin.
Are we as a Party or Group downhearted? No we are not – We are on our way back!
Leslie Christie:
01474 361564 or 07889 639428
