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, to the shortly revealed MetPro scandal, 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 casual 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 below 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
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