Harlow Labour leader looks forward to next week’s local elections
Elections / Thu 27th Apr 2023 at 09:00am
THE LEADER of Harlow Labour has been busy on the local election campaign trail.
Councillor Chris Vince has been in every ward, knocking on doors, delivering leaflets and listing to residents concerns.
We caught up with him in Barn Mead to find out how campaigning is going.
It is doubtful whether Labour can re-take the council but all the seats (especially Staple Tye as well as Sumners and Kingsmoor) will give them sure sign regarding 2024 when all 33 councillors will be up for re-election.
We also took this opportunity to ask the leader.
- As a Labour candidate had commented on a recent photo of Harlow Conservatives as only having “white men” in it, how diverse if Harlow Labour?
- If Harlow Labour re-takes the council in 2024. Do you have the calibre of councillor to oversee the running of a multi-million pound organisation?
Adam Taylor
2023-04-27 10:33:47
Did he mention he was going to try and be MP for Colchester. Just another pointless politician making a career of other spending peoples money.
peter henegan
2023-04-27 12:39:24
I have high regard for councilors, they give up their time in an effort to improve life locally. Of course, I don't always agree with them. I listened to Chris, and also looked on the Harlow labour website, but I struggle to understand what their vision for Harlow is. What will happen to our council tax for example. Nationally, I have found the tories awful but locally, they do seem to have positive ideas. Does the labour party even care about our town, we certainly do not have a parliamentary candidate in place, a labour canvasser told me it is because they don't think they can win.
Tom Compton
2023-04-27 15:00:49
Last night, the Labour Party again failed to vote to stop the boats. Every week, Cllr Chris Vince writes in this paper about the Government and just about everything else he can’t control and how everything is someone else's fault - but when they have his party side with the people traffickers who organise the illegal channel crossings he and his Labour colleagues have nothing to say. Why is that? Because Labour want open borders and uncontrolled immigration. They voted against the Australian-style points based system we now have which took back control of our borders from the EU. And they have voted against every measure to stop the boats and stop the illegal channel crossings. I wonder if Cllr Vince and his Labour colleagues can explain why they want open borders, uncontrolled and illegal immigration. No doubt he will blame the Conservatives, but when concrete measures are put in front of his Labour colleagues; they vote against them. Regards, Tom Compton
David Forman
2023-04-27 22:21:10
Mr Compton should know that net migration to June 2022 was over 500,000. The number of small boat arrivals was around 45,000. Of the small number of asylum cases processed around 77% are achieving asylum status. The Tories have watched the asylum backlog grow each and every year since 2010. The backlog is now nearly 9 times what Labour left behind: 18,954 in June 2010 and a whopping 166,261 at end of December 2022. UK Statistics Authority chief's letter to Stephen Kinnock MP provides the evidence: https://uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/correspondence/response-from-sir-robert-chote-to-stephen-kinnock-mp-asylum-backlogs/
David Vincent
2023-04-27 22:28:43
Conservatives broke the asylum system by underfunding and poor management. The Institute of Government reported this February about declining productivity of asylum caseworkers. "Despite a 62% increase in caseworkers from 2011/12 to 2021/22, decision making rates have decreased by the same amount in this period. And in December 2022, there were 1,237 caseworkers who made an average of 4 asylum decisions per month per staff member, compared to 380 caseworkers with a productivity rate of 13.7 decisions in 2011/12." See Institute of Government report at: https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/explainer/asylum-backlog
Cllr James Griggs
2023-04-28 05:49:34
Tom Compton, if the Conservative Govt was serious about tacking the issue of the boats it would be hunting down the people smugglers to shut down their operations. Instead it chooses to target and demonise the most vulnerable people, those people who are driven to use the boats because legal routes to the UK have been all but decimated by the tories. But, of course, it’s far easier to sow division and hatred as a distraction to 13 years of failure than to address the real root of the problem.
Tom Compton
2023-04-28 06:54:37
Cllr Griggs. This country is paying £ billions each year to keep these migrants, many of whom are not ‘refugees’ , e.g. Albanians. Vulnerable? If these people arrive in France, they are ‘safe’. No reason whatsoever to come to the UK. I almost forgot, what would you prefer a tent in Calais or a 4 star hotel in Dover? You talk about tackling people traffickers, but this relies on cooperation from France, who are only too happy to ship the problem to the UK. If Labour is so keen to tackle this, why did they vote against the plan for a perfectly reasonable migration points system and every other measure proposed. Labour on immigration is a joke and has no ideas or solutions. It was your former leader Blair who opened the floodgates. It is an abuse of our people and country.
David Forman
2023-04-28 07:58:20
The Tories snail pace processing of asylum claims means people stay longer in hotels or camps. The Institute of Government states: "Asylum claimants who received an initial decision in 2020 waited an average of 449 days for that decision, rising to 550 days for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children." Victims of modern slavery were taking 553 days to identify despite the Home Office's own target of 45 days. Incompetence of the Conservative government is the issue: https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/explainer/asylum-backlog
Tom Compton
2023-04-28 08:12:19
Dear Mr Forman, I don’t disagree that the system has not been working, but the bottom line is that many of these people should not be here. If I were a genuine refugee, I would claim asylum in the first safe country, which is never going to be an island nation like the UK. It is obvious to all but the most obtuse that most are economic/benefits driven migrants. This country needs a sensible migration system to attract skilled and qualified people and a strong points based system as well as effective deterrents for those breaking our laws. An offshore processing system like Australia’s has been proven to greatly reduce illegal crossings. It is grossly unfair to legal applicants that illegality attracts benefits.
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