Billion Pound Gamble Press Release

Press Release - 9th October 2012

Award winning Film Director Ken Loach has lambasted Barnet Council's One Barnet outsourcing programme in a scathing attack in a new documentary film "Barnet - The Billion Pound Gamble", directed by Charles Honderick. Mr Loach was interviewed exclusively for the film and says:

"A billion pounds, now that’s money you will pay, Barnet residents will pay, and the jobs that will be provided will probably not be in Barnet. A lot of the jobs will go to other boroughs or even outside of Britain altogether."

Mr Loach notes that taxpayers are getting poor value for money as jobs leave the borough, causing poverty, hardship and economic decline.

 "Now that’s a bad deal for Barnet because you want your rates and money put in to go to support your local economy,  to go to support Barnet people & this is not about being narrow & excluding others, this is just commonsense that we need local communities to thrive & the end of that logic, that says the money should go to the cheapest workers is of course that the money goes to those who eat grass first."

As well as Mr Loach, the film features people from all walks of life in Barnet talking about their experiences and looks at all aspects of life in Barnet in 2012, including the relocation of Barnet Football club to Harrow, the closure of Friern Barnet Library, the cost of parking in the High Street and the provision of care services for the disabled and elderly.

Director Charles Honderick said "The film gives a voice to everyone who cares about what is happening in their community. The stories we have heard are stories which should be shared. Some of the things you will see you will find hard to believe can happen in a civilised society".  Mr Honderick continued "As a filmmaker I am honoured to have my work recognised by Ken Loach. He has spent years making films with power and meaning. His wise words are ones we'd be foolish to ignore".

The film has its world premiere at the Phoenix Cinema in Finchley at 6pm on Monday 22nd October 2012. Admission is priced at £1.

You can see the full interview with Mr Loach at the film website  - http://www.billionpoundgamble.co.uk/

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Notes to Editors.

1. The world premiere for the film will be shown at The Phoenix Cinema on Monday 22nd October. Doors open at 6pm and the film will be shown at 6.30pm. Entrance costs £1.

2. The film has been directed by USA film director Charles Honderick. The film is a follow up to the acclaimed film  "A Tale of Two Barnets" which has been screened at The House of Commons, The Edinburgh Festival, The Unision National Conference and the TUC centre at Great Russell St. There have also been over 20 local screenings.

3. The film features a new exclusive interview with award winning film director Ken Loach, talking about life, football and outsourcing.

4. The film website is  http://www.billionpoundgamble.co.uk/ . This is being constantly updated with information, details and clips as we move towards the full screening.

5. The website for "A Tale of Two Barnets" is http://ataleoftwobarnets.yolasite.com/ . This has full details of all press coverage and clips from the film including full interviews with Ken Loach, Richard Cornelius (Leader of Barnet Council) and Nick Walkley (CEO of Barnet Council).

6. Please contact Roger Tichborne on 07754 910425 or by email at roger.tichborne@btinternet.com for more details

7. Full Transcript of Ken Loach interview #1 -

“Sadly Barnet is becoming the by word for unscrupulous outsourcing of contracts for the council, there have been many campaigns, big campaigns against this and we need to support those campaigns. The amount of outsourcing I am told is to be a Billion pounds come the end of this year.... 

A billion pounds now that’s money you will pay, Barnet residents will pay and the jobs that will be provided will probably not be in Barnet. A lot of the jobs will go to other boroughs or even outside of Britain altogether, now that’s a bad deal for Barnet because you want your rates and money put in to go to support your local economy, to go to support Barnet people & this is not about being narrow & excluding others, this is just common sense that we need local communities to thrive & the end of that logic, that says the money should go to the cheapest workers is of course the money goes to those who eat grass first.

The money goes away to other countries where the workers are far more exploited, so really it is a licence for exploitation, it’s a licence to those who will screw the workforce as hard as they can.

Now that is not a society we want to live in. It is no way to promote job security.

It’s no way for people to be able to look forward to being able to buy a house, have a job which will provide an income to support their family and that’s the kind of society we want.

Not one that gives unscrupulous employers the license to screw the workforce for all their worth.”