Over the last few years, the activities of the current
Conservative administration
in Barnet have been closely monitored and reported by a group of
bloggers, determined to hold to account the elected members who have so
blatantly defied the principle of democratic government, and
fundamentally betrayed the best interests of the residents
of this borough.
We
have covered every faltering step of the course followed by the Tory
councillors, from
their first act, on being re-elected, and lecturing residents and staff
on the stark economies necessitated by the demands of austerity, but
voting themselves a big fat rise in their own allowances, closely followed by the MetPro scandal, a theme which set the tone
for the next four years.
The
MetPro affair involved the use by the Tory council of an illegally
operating private
security company, which barred residents from a council meeting,
secretly filmed local bloggers and activists, had close contact with
vulnerable children, and was being rewarded by casual but substantial
payments, in the total absence of any contractual agreement.
Barnet’s bloggers subsequently revealed that far from being a single case of failure in proper
regulation of procurement and contractual management, the council had thousands of legally non-compliant arrangements.
Local tax payers’ hard earned cash had been given away in these agreements, unquestioned:
a real scandal, and on an unimaginably wide scale.
The
next outrage we reported was perhaps one we should have foreseen: the
silencing of dissent
at all residents’ meetings, with enforced censorship rules, backed by a
deliberate amendment to the local constitution, meaning no member of
the public was allowed to criticise, or even refer to anything deemed to
be ‘council policy’.
The reason for this soon became clear.
Barnet was to be privatised, with a massive outsourcing programme, from which an in-house
solution was excluded because, we were told, we needed a large amount of capital investment from a commercial partner.
There had been no mention of these plans in the 2010 Conservative manifesto.
Despite the lack of mandate, the Tory administration pushed these plans through, at the behest
of senior management and private consultants.
Needless
to say, as well as failing to present these plans to residents at the
time of election,
there was no consultation over the privatisation: a serious breach of
regulations, and one criticised in the High Court by Judge Underhill
last year.
Another
policy imposed by Barnet Tories that was brought to account in the High
Court was
the catastrophic parking policy, which overnight sent the borough’s high
streets into fatal decline, and alienated vast sections of the
Conservatives’ own natural electoral base.
The Barnet Conservative manifesto for the 2014 elections is even more enigmatic than the
version they offered voters four years previously.
When asked by the Barnet Press why there was no mention of One Barnet leader Richard Cornelius
declared that it is a brand that ‘has served its purpose’.
Indeed it has, but whose purpose, and for whose benefit?
Certainly not the residents and taxpayers of Barnet.
Already
we have seen the real motives of Capita exposed by their attempts to
begin the commercial
exploitation of this borough in the form of the development of
‘memorialisation’ of the dead in Hendon Crematorium, and the grossly
insensitive removal of benches commemorating loved ones in the grounds,
taken away and dumped in a corner of the grounds.
It seems an apt metaphor for the exploitation of our borough, by private enterprise, at our
expense, sanctioned by our Conservative councillors.
And
we must ask - if the privatisation of our borough, and the sell off to
Capita of our local
services has been so successful, why are Barnet Tories not rejoicing in
this fact, and sharing their sense of satisfaction with voters? Why are
they being so evasive about the real plans that they intend to impose,
should they be returned to office this coming
week?
Is
it because the One Barnet brand is now so toxic, it must be dropped,
and forgotten, and
voters duped into approving another Tory council whose agenda is
unstated, but is clearly going to endorse the privatisation of council
service and expand this policy wherever possible?
We
have read this week of plans to privatise child protection services.
There can be little
doubt that if they are returned to office, without consulting residents,
Barnet Tories will be likely to extend the process of privatisation to
any other council function they care to delegate. And increased pressure
to make massive savings will inevitably
lead to cuts in services on a scale as yet unprecedented.
There
will, of course, be no proposal to deprive themselves of the same level
of allowance
they still enjoy, despite the limited function they will retain, in a
borough where our vital services will be run not for our benefit, with
direct control by them, but by a private company, for profit, at our
expense.
In the accompanying footage here,John
Dix, blogger Mr Reasonable explains why the takeover by Capita of our
council services presents such a threat to the wellbeing of our borough,
and what the future will hold for all of us in Barnet, should the
Conservative administration be re-elected this
week.
The choice for voters on May 22nd
is clear – vote Conservative, approve the delegation of control of your
borough to private enterprise, and the shareholders of Capita – or take a
stand, and begin to reclaim your democratic right to control your own
destiny.
Derek Dishman
John Dix
Theresa Musgrove
Roger Tichborne
