Harlow Labour leader “counts the cost” of 13 years of Tories in power
General / Wed 12th Apr 2023 at 08:29am
THE LEADER of Harlow Labour has looked at the record of the Conservatives since they were elected in 2010 and found them wanting.
Councillor Chris Vince said: “While Harlow’s Conservative MP lords over his so called achievements in office, notice how the new hospital has been quietly dropped, the true cost of 13 years of a Conservative government are only too clear to see.
According to the Trussell Trust, when the conservatives came to power in 2010 there were 40,000 people across the UK receiving 3 days worth of emergency food from foodbanks, now in 2023 that figure is 2.1million. Surely not a record to be proud of.
Since 2010 the national debt has more than doubled and what do we have to show for it? Our schools, hospitals and our emergency services are all at breaking point, crime is increasing whereas solve rates are decreasing. Surely not a record to be proud of.
Meanwhile the Conservative government has wasted billions on a failed track and trace system and dodgy PPE contracts for their mates and donors, while people in Harlow are being forced to turn to food banks to feed their families and use ‘warm spaces’ instead of heating their homes. Surely not a record to be proud of.
The Conservatives like to claim they are the party of low taxes and economic growth but the UK current has the highest taxation levels for 70 years, growth is stagnant and living standards are falling rapidly with more and more people falling into poverty. And who’s paying those taxes? Not the wealthy, they get tax breaks whilst the rest of us pay more. According to an article just published by the BBC the IMF predicts the UK to be one of the worse performing economies this year.
The Conservative MP for Harlow may try to distance himself from the actions of his government but don’t forget he was there every step of the way.
He supported Cameron’s austerity agenda, he supported Truss when she wiped billions off the economy overnight and here he is now, a minister in the government of a Conservative Prime Minister who is also trying to distance himself from the past.
They’ve all been complicit in the Government decisions of the past 13 years but now many of them, Harlows MP included, are removing all references to Conservative or Tory from their social media profiles. I doubt it’s because they are embarrassed, it’s because they are scared.
Clearly they don’t think they have a record to be proud of either.
Cllr Chris Vince
James Humphreys
2023-04-12 08:52:27
I really fail to see how a Labour govt would have done much better if brought in during 2019. Under Corbyn we'd have stripped all pharmaceutical companies of IP protection in the UK so one of the covid vaccines wouldn't have been created here and the 3rd biggest R&D investor in the UK would be gone. Although there were many catastrophic mistakes at least the vaccine programme went well. Also, every economy is suffering right now. Yes the UK is the worst, but imagine if we'd have gone on a journey to renationalise everything, how much more public debt we'd be suffering now buying back all these industries that would have no doubt collapsed with the engergy crisis as govt would have to take on all the failing companies and their debt. While the Conservative govt is an embarrasment and made a number of critical mistakes, i just don't see how Labour would have done any better overall. What i would hope leading up to local elections in May is more talk about what parties are going to do. Instead, we're left with negative politics, cherry-picking of facts and mud slinging at every opportunity. For the sake of everyone, can we not work to build a better Harlow rather than wasting, time, energy, money and having councillors pointing out each other's mistakes and casually ignoring their own at every opportunity, dragging everything down?
David Forman
2023-04-12 08:59:05
Tories have broken the asylum system. A 166,261 backlog of claims, a rise of 147,307 since Labour left office in 2010. Case handlers productivity has gone backwards. The so-called safe routes are minimal and badly mismanaged. An independent inspection last October of Refugee Family Reunion safe and legal route said: "My predecessor carried out four inspections into the area of family reunion but sadly the Home Office has failed to give this area an appropriate level of attention and priority. Since the last inspection in 2019, the effectiveness of this route has further deteriorated. "Family reunion is one of the Home Office’s few safe and legal routes, and it is failing those who seek to rely on it, which is predominantly women and children. "The backlog in this area is almost 8,000 applications and there is no evidence of any prioritisation of these based on vulnerability. Applications sit in a pile and will only be expedited through MP correspondence, threat of litigation or sheer luck. Only then is any assessment of vulnerability made by a decision maker (DM). The vast majority of applications are not considered by a DM until more than double the service standard of 60 working days. This is unacceptable." See report at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1137651/A_reinspection_of_family_reunion_applications_September___October_2022.pdf
gary roberts
2023-04-12 09:40:38
Cllr. Vince, would you invoke the Labour party policy agenda as set out in 2017 and 2019 election campaigns? If not, why not? The policies were exceptional and would deliver positive change to many people struggling today. And of course the recent Labour party adverts are a disgrace that goes against any notion that your leader Starmer has a higher standard of integrity than Johnson, Truss or Sunak. The standard of politics in this country today is so low it questions the very reason to vote because radical change is needed but both main parties haven't any policies I would consider voting for.
Adam Taylor
2023-04-12 11:14:58
What about the 13 years of labour government, which saw ending of final salary pensions (browns tax grab), Which lead to massive house price inflation (good for banks but really bad for the rest of us) pushing more into debt. Then there was introduction of uni fees. Oh and to top it all of they started illegal wars. Plus they also support and wanted longer and harder lockdowns again throwing the poor under the bus. Labour are the party of the state employee and public sector unions
Darren Franklin
2023-04-12 11:27:38
This constant bickering between Labour and Conservatives is getting very boring now. Grow up both and stop with the playground fights!!!!
Tracy George
2023-04-12 12:48:08
Adam Taylor. The war in Iraq was also voted at the time by Tories. Am getting fed up with people going on about what Labour did 13 years ago, as some sort of reason to excuse what the Tories have done in the last 13 years. I've never seen Britain so bad as it is now, the NHS, access to dentists, the lies, the corruption (unusable PPE contracts to their mates), the use of foodbanks, the state of roads, schools failing, the strikes, the cost of living and so many people pushed into poverty in the name of profit for their friends who donate to the party. I am at a loss as to why anyone would want to keep voting these muppets in. Sure, vote in a tactic manner, get these guys in charge out and perhaps they will think and come back as a better party that may be worth our vote.
Adam Taylor
2023-04-12 13:23:35
Tracy they killed millions over a lie and I am by no means a tory either I think they are all chancers, corrupt and out for themselves and care little for anyone but themselves and party. I do think labour are worse though as they want to keep people on poverty dependent on them Its bad now because of lockdown - all parties printed hundreds of billions of pounds to fund an insane lockdown. Most people were weak and complied while the NHS was destroyed (stopping treatment of most people for 2 years is never going to go well). Yes the tories were corrupt and spend money on PPE etc labour demanded more they would have done the same the only difference would be who's mates got rich. Labour will make no difference, they are all the same the only way out of this mess is independents working together coupled with a smaller state, and more self reliance
Tracy George
2023-04-12 13:49:35
Adam - the tories voted for the war too!! Both parties were responsible but more labour peers voted against that tories voted against. The NHS, The tories got rid of bursaries for nurses, midwives, radiographers etc some years back and applications fell. They also cut the amount of doc training places. They were warned by the medical council this would bite them in the years to come as would be a huge decline on staff and it has. The Tory way was to employ people from overseas, but that's before they brought in Brexit, ouch. IF the NHS was in a better state by the time Covid arrived, we may have coped a little better, certainly in the aftermath with catching up with operations. The NHS is seriously underfunded and understaffed. People are leaving due to retirement, stress, being overworked and not enough people are replacing them. This is at the same time our population is growing and getting older. The care industry that follows the elderly after a stay is also underfunded. This has nothing to do with Labour. What was in the news yesterday? That the UK is doing the worst economically than the other countries who also faced covid, the war in Ukraine - again, this is under the Tories, not Labour. Food banks have risen in their 100's, under Tories, not Labour, the cost of living has pushed people into real poverty, despite working. Everything is going up, up up including their rich friends businesses profits!! More people are suffering right now, this moment of time, under Tories. None of this has anything to do with a war in Iraq or anything Labour did 13 years ago. Brexit has nothing to do with Labour, that campaign that was run on lies and more lies so people did not vote with real information. The whole shebang has been poor and it's time for another party - any party - to have a go. They cannot make it worse as we've no lower to go.
Tony Wiseman
2023-04-13 05:57:12
I have to agree with James Humphreys. Every time Councillor Vince writes a letter it is to slag the other parties off rather than lay out a costed plan of how a Labour Harlow Council would be better. Come on Harlow Councillors, stop the negative nay saying and tell us how you are going to improve Harlow. If you think that would include raising Council Tax then tell us by how much and where the extra money would be spent and then we adults can make informed decisions come election time.
Seamus
2023-04-13 16:27:13
I would have thought Mr Vinces main question should be, what is it about Labour that the British electorate, has found them unelectable for the last 13 years?
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