Sneaky housing tricks in Leeds
As mentioned in the last Umbrella, Leeds City Council lost the ballot to start down the privatisation road with an "Arms Length Company" in the Woodhouse and Little London districts. They then re-held the ballot using a gerrymandering style that would not been out of place in the old Northern Ireland.
Besides the overall need to do their London master's bidding, there seem to be some specific reasons for the Council making its first push towards privatisation in Little London. One is the increasing value of prime land so close to the booming yuppie city centre. Little Londoners noticed that a delayed building project started the day after the second ballot on private upmarket flats.
Having gained heart from their rigged ballot in Little London, and knowing they were facing increased campaigning from tenants and trade unions against their plans, the Council called a snap ballot on the instructions of the government. The Labour group at this point showed the extent to which it had lost its backbone. Despite the MP for East Leeds, my good friend George Mudie, speaking out and explaining that the money from the government did not necessarily depend on "Arms length Companies", not a single New Labour councillor supported him. Councillor Richard Lewis, the Leeds City Councillor Executive Councillor for housing, refused to answer any of the specific points made by George.
The Council's snap campaign resulted in well over 80% of the tenants voting for the Arms Length Companies (ALC) in Leeds. This was after the Council spent over £1,000,000 on a scaremongering campaign that did not did deal with a single issued raised by their opponents. The New Labour Council said this was the only way to obtain the necessary housing improvements. The only comment on the opposition was to say that this was not privatisation. However they failed to explain why any opponents of the deal were kept off the proposed management committees which in their "independent" components are made up overwhelmingly of housing professionals with a vested interest in developing non-council housing.
And of course they 'forgot' to mention:
- That the government was going to examine the council housing before any really large sums would be released;
- That the money would be borrowed and the Council workers would pay more than if the council borrowed the money on its own;
- That the rates will go up for both council and non-council tax payers because the removal of council housing from Leeds City Council capital base so raising the cost of borrowing;
- It will have an impact on housing people across the city by making more difficult for people to move or find housing;
- There will be an increase in overheads due the increase in management costs. This could be as high as an extra one million pounds a year. These costs along with the set up costs will wipe out all of the promised money for improvements. If the ALCs failed to reach the as yet unknown Government standards, the tenants could pay out extra money without even having the improvements;
- Repair costs will go up due to the smaller bargain units and it will be more expensive to police repairs to ensure quality repairs and services.
The Tory/New Labour/Liberal Democrat council in Leeds failed to make any study of the impact of Arms Length Companies. They know they had to do Blair's London bidding and all they asked was how much phlegm collectively they had to cough up to spit on the tenants of Leeds.
Colin Challen, MP for Morley and Rothwell and remembered well among activists in Leeds North East, continued his legendary brownnosing by being the only MP to publicly support Leeds City Council. His support for tenants to pay more and get less was dictated by his policy of sucking up to his New Labour masters in Westminster. Otherwise he would have fought against the measures or at least asked for some proper assessments of the impact of setting up the arms length companies.
There is no clear exit policy from the arrangements for the tenants. However those nice people in the Left Alliance are pledged to give the council tenants a fair vote on the arrangements after they and their allies win the all-out election in 2004. They will also set up a public inquiry to examine why no proper assessment of the proposals were made and presented to the people of Leeds.
What happened in France
During the French Presidential elections the combined Trotskyist vote exceeded 11%, completely eclipsing the French Communist Party (PCF), the traditional party of the left. However in the subsequent elections for the National Assembly the Trotskyist vote completely collapsed getting roughly the same percentages the Left and Socialist Alliances, along with the Socialist Alternative, obtained at the last UK General Election.
However, although the PCF vote slipped they still managed to win 23 seats in the National Assembly. This was due partly to their relatively large membership and partly to the geographical concentration of their votes. They were also flexible enough to make a few electoral pacts, which gave their candidates an edge. The Left Alliance electoral strategists are carefully studying these lessons. In fact they are planning a French study trip this autumn to talk to their various allies in France, examine the elections more closely and to refine their calvados tasting buds.
Police News
As crime rises in West Yorkshire the cry was "Where's Taggart?" -- Chapel Allerton's elusive Chair of the Police Committee. And then Taggart goes! In a coup the West Police authority removed Councillor Neil Taggart, its long standing Chair. They replaced him with a non-elected businessman. In a sense Taggart was hoist on his own petard having failed to campaign for the removal of the unelected business people and magistrates put there by the Tories.
And after his extraordinary attacks on the former Liberal Democrat councillor Javid Akhtar he lost the support of the moderate elements on the committee. In Bradford a campaign has been launched against the severity and numbers of those sentenced after the "riots". It is inevitable that such a campaign will be launched in Leeds. The total number of young Asians being sent to jail looks like reaching 300. Taggart's unwillingness to critically examine the West Yorkshire Police and the criminal Prosecution Service's tactics will come back to haunt him.
The election of a Labour councillor as the deputy seems to indicate Taggart also lost the support of some of his New Labour colleagues. There also might have been an element of not wanting to listen to Taggart hogging every meeting. Our investigation into this strange affair is continuing.
There are important constitutional issues being raised over New Labour's continuing attempts to undermine the West Yorkshire police authority. A government minister known as Harman the Useless is apparently spying on the police and us in West Yorkshire. The new non-elected Chair of West Yorkshire Police or Taggart says nothing about this attack on our liberties. Effectively they have given up representing the people of West Yorkshire.
Perhaps Councillor Walker, the leader of Leeds City Council, goes next? The Liberal Democrats have already won two seats in his base at Rothwell. Rumour has it that he is planning to resign after Christmas. This would allow his successor -- probably the ex-Stalinist and now hard right-winger Keith Wakefield -- to lead New Labour to its inevitable defeat next May.
Leeds has already lost its leadership role in the Yorkshire and Humberside Assembly, whose Chair is now my good friend Peter Box, the leader of Wakefield Council.
Leeds North East Labour Party
In my last Umbrella I referred to the failure of a former Liberal Democrat to win the Leeds Ward of Roundhay for New Labour at the last local election by 89 votes. My parliamentary colleague, the MP for Leeds North East Fabian Hamilton, has kindly used his House of Commons envelopes and postage to send me something called Leeds North East Labour Party Members Newsletter Second Edition June 2002.
The newsletter makes quite a play of losing Roundhay, blaming "Former Labour members standing for the 'Left Alliance' won 127 votes -- more that the Tories' majority." The wording is all theirs but I understand that only one Left Alliance member stood, the excellent and super-efficient Malcolm Christie. New Labour seem to have changed its mind over the defeat. On the night they told Malcolm, over friendly drink, that they had lost because the Tories were better at postal votes.
However Peter Gruen, former Tory Councillor and Chair of Leeds North East Labour Party, has a third explanation. He has examined the marked electoral register and found that 107 Labour party members did not vote in May. And we know that many who did vote voted for Malcolm as a candidate they knew they could trust.
Of course New Labour have a simple remedy: let the Left Alliance and their hundreds of supporters join the Labour Party. After all they seem let any old Tory or Liberal Democrat hold office but are obviously still prejudiced against socialists.
Mind you, the problem might solve itself. Attendance at Labour Party branch meetings and at constituency level has slumped so low they are inviting the entire membership along to come to their General Committee meetings. This contrasts with the growing, if somewhat chaotic, Left Alliance branches in Yorkshire. Perhaps they will end up asking to join the Left Alliance
Snippets
Boundary reorganisation in Leeds
Our psephological and absent friend Councillor Taggart has set out on behalf of New Labour to reorganise the electoral wards in Leeds. His main aim is to keep New Labour in power and to keep out the Liberal Democrats. He has had private talks with both the Tories and the Greens to try to ensure a common approach. However Leeds City Council has failed to put notices up round the libraries to allow the public to put in their own ideas.
This is typical New Labour tactics. They feel more comfortable with the Tories (see previous Umbrellas on Mandelson and Thatcher etc) than the Liberal Democrats, where they might see some of their own distorted radical past.
I am now desperately looking for something positive to say about Councillor Taggart. He can't be a complete New Labour shyster trying to become a second-rate version of his predecessor President, Jack Straw, at Leeds University Union. Perhaps someone could write in saying he helped an old person across the road or he bought a round in a pub for his many friends.
Fylingdales
I was able to attend a large successful demonstration against this secretive and unaccountable American base. Along with its sister base at Menworth Hill they are due to pay a large role in the invasion of Iraq now pencilled into Bush's diary for March 2003. My melodious friend and international singer Karl Dallas entertained demonstrators.
Good Luck
Good health and a speedy recovery to my Old Labour stalwart friends Graham Bash and Len Hodgson who have both come out of hospital. And also good health to Left Alliance and garden party supporter Jackie Warner who is recovering from a nasty road accident.
And Good Luck to the new Socialist Worker Party (SWP) full-timer in Leeds. He was much-needed, my many friends on the SWP National Executive told me. The Leeds branches were apparently going downhill. They had taken to meeting in darkened rooms well away from daylight. The full-timer's first act to get the Leeds SWP fit and healthy was to lead them on a Sunday morning paper sale. Unfortunately the fear of daylight kept most of the members away from this wholesome activity.
New Labour and opinion polls
In recent opinion polls the Guardian shows New Labour holding its lead over the Tories. Polls in other papers show this lead beginning to fall. They are measuring two different things. One is looking at confidence in New Labour while in the other lack of any confidence in the opposition hence people will still votes Labour. However New Labour should draw no comfort from this. Eventually this will gap will become unstable and the New Labour vote will collapse.
Trade Union support for New Labour
As each millionaire or company sleaze allegation affects new Labour's finances, the unions are finally beginning to recognise they are paying millions to the party and are getting virtually nothing back.
New Labour is even blocking minor reforms from Brussels that would help trade unions and they have failed to pass laws that would protect trade unionists from dismissal.
For Bob Crow, leader of the Rail Marine and Transport union, this has become too much. His union at its annual Conference decided to support only those MPs who would try to support union policy against privatisation.
A number of MPs resigned including that sharp analytic rat John Prescott. He takes the union money for years, knowing full well the policy of the RMT but as soon as he asked to do something to help its members he jumps ship. He says he will not be pushed -- however this independence of mind doesn't come into play when faced with corporate pressure. Prescott has refused to do anything over the huge £30 billion of public money being currently wasted on the railways by his failure to counter privatisation.
And on top of this over £28 billion of public money is going to be spent on nuclear waste in order to support further privatisation in nuclear power.
Yet there will be nothing for coal. John Grogan, Selby's jogging MP, is supporting the sell-out to oil and nuclear power by supporting a "managed closure" of Selby coalfields. This is yet another example of New Labour following Thatcher's policies to the bitter end. The so-called Third Way is Thatcherism with a human face.
Dress code
New Labour's complete contempt for ordinary people is shown by one government department imposing a dress code that insist that men wear a tie at all times whether they meet the public or not. They even have to ask the manager if they can loosen their tie!
This is a deliberate attempt to breed uniformity of thought and stifle imagination and of course any independence.
Their control freakery even extends to passing laws that not simply spy on your e-mails but check up which web sites you are visiting.
South Yorkshire Festival
Once again the Yorkshire Left Alliance had a another successful stall at the wonderful South Yorkshire Festival. This is held at Wortley Hall, the Co-Op's baronial mansion in lovely green countryside. Thousands enjoyed a great day out. David Bowe MEP was one of the many who patronised the Left Alliance stall.
However the day had a hint of sadness. That morning, in Sheffield, was the funeral of Royden Harrison, one of the giants and founders of Labour History in Britain. Royden had written for the Independent Labour Network, one of the original components of the Left Alliance. He also taught my former friend David Blunkett. As he arrived at the funeral he was asked by my old friend Dennis Skinner, "How many asylum seekers have you locked up today, David?" He scurried away.
-- Half-Celestial Khan
