forestgatedotnet

Today Ed Miliband made his big speech on social security reform. He did so at Newham Dockside, the £110 million headquarters of Newham council.

He talked – rightly – about reducing the social security bill by increasing the number of people in work and by making sure that work pays. Too many employers rely on the taxpayer to subsidise poverty wages. People need to be able to earn a living wage.

Today, people often don’t get paid enough in work to make ends meet.

And the taxpayer is left picking up the bill for low pay.
 We must change our economy, so that welfare is not a substitute for good employment and decent jobs…

Today in Britain almost three million men and women and almost one and half million children live in families that are going to work and are still not able to escape poverty.

People doing the right thing, trying to support themselves and their children.

The last Labour government took action on this, and was right to provide tax credits for those in work. 

But we didn’t do enough to tackle Britain’s low wage economy, a low wage economy that just leaves the taxpayer facing greater and greater costs subsidising employers…

We will do everything in our power to promote the living wage.

If local councils can say “if you want a contract with the council then you need to pay the living wage,”  then central government should look at doing that too.

Absolutely right. But his point was embarrassingly undermined by his choice of venue. Despite Labour having 100% control of the council, Newham is not a Living Wage Accredited Employer.

This is a disgrace. Our councillors should be embarrassed. And ashamed.

Hands up who wants Sir Robin to be mayor for another four years?

On Friday it was announced, to no surprise whatsoever, that Sir Robin Wales had been re-selected as Labour’s candidate for Mayor of Newham.

Given the choice in a ‘trigger ballot’ between keeping the incumbent and running an open selection process, party members chose not to give themselves a choice. It’s a deeply depressing decision.

Writing for Left Futures back in January Jon Lansman asked why Labour’s most powerful politicians – its directly elected mayors – are the least accountable and explained why it was inevitable that Sir Robin and the other incumbent mayors would win these ‘trigger ballots’:

Because they have no challengers.

Why do they have no challengers? Because as well as the power and the patronage, they can carry on long as they wish. It’s a vicious circle.

Of course, each Mayor has their own personal style and different levels of willingness to tolerate criticism. But the value of the patronage in these boroughs is far more significant than in Parliament where MPs are paid a minimum of £65,738. In Newham, London’s poorest borough, the £15,856 which Sir Robin Wales dispenses (on average), in addition to their basic allowance of £10,829, to 29 of Newham’s 60 Labour councillors (there is no opposition) is not chicken feed. For many, it is their only or main income. How likely is it that a Cabinet member who is full-time, dependent on their allowances of £41,871, will take on Sir Robin in Cabinet or Labour Group never mind in a contest to be a mayoral candidate?

So, in essence, Sir Robin has ensured the loyalty and compliance of those around him. Put simply, those most likely to offer a realistic challenge have the most to lose from making one. And they know Sir Robin is ruthless in his treatment of dissent.

Lansman concluded:

The least that Labour’s executive could do is to ensure that if Mayors are allowed to serve a fourth term, they should at least face a full selection procedure.

Sadly, Labour passed up that opportunity and agreed to the trigger ballot process. With the inevitable outcome.

Here’s a small but important fact about Newham: unlike several of our neighbouring boroughs, no candidate from a fascist party has ever been elected to office.

In fact, there hasn’t even been a BNP candidate on the ballot for a council election since 2002.

Whatever else you may want to criticise our mayor for (and there’s plenty) this is one thing he can be rightly proud of. Despite ongoing economic deprivation, under-funding from central government and an ever-evolving racial mix the far right has never managed to gain a foothold here on his watch.

But while the BNP is nowhere to be seen, there are others who see political advantage in spreading fear and suspicion, people who see an opportunity for personal gain in sowing the seeds of hatred and division. We must reject them too.