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WHY IS LABOUR
AT PANIC STATIONS?
IT’S true that Camden is just down the road from No
10 Downing Street but for the Prime Minister himself to suddenly
turn up two weeks before the local elections this can only mean
one thing: Labour is terrified of losing control in the borough.
Ironically, Tony Blair and the New Labour machine have always
been past masters in the art of parachuting in acolytes to patch
up ailing constituencies or take over dissident local party
organisations.
This time, the master himself had to be parachuted in to help
out Labour in Camden.
But was it necessary?
If politics can be defined as a mixture of myth and reality,
then the answer is Yes.
In real terms Camden under Labour is as well-run a borough as
you are likely to find in London.
Of course, the borough is far from perfect. Parking restrictions
infuriate drivers.
Tales – as you will find in any part of the UK – abound
of local authorities living off the proceeds from parking fines.
The desperation of young couples and families trying to become
first-time buyers in the overpriced housing market of Camden
cannot be exaggerated.
The provision of council housing for those lower down the ladder
is virtually non-existent.
Decisions affecting planning applications or liquor licenses
are occasionally ill-thought out at the Town Hall, as this newspaper
has not hesitated to point out.
But, again, this is not a fault that can be levelled at Camden
only! Headlines in the Evening Standard or other local newspapers
in the capital would bear this out.
In our opinion – and possibly in the minds of not a few
senior Labour councillors – all would be better if the
much-derided policies of previous more traditional Labour administrations
were being applied today at No 10 and No 11 Downing Street.
Certainly, if the council were allowed to collect business rates,
as it was able to before the arrival of Thatcherism, it would
be better funded – and, therefore, able to wriggle away
from the control of Whitehall all that much better.
But we doubt if, locally, life would be substantially different
were the Lib-Dems or the Tories in power.
There is little evidence that Lib-Dem controlled Islington is
a heavenly body Camden would do well to behold. On the other
hand, we cannot rationally explain the rush of blood to Labour’s
head in Camden that authored the spin-foolery policy document
headed Islington – Camden’s neighbour from hell.
New politics are being offered by the Greens but they are still
very much in the wings.
In the meantime Labour is at panic stations. |
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