Coun Paul Bellenger: Are Labour going from bad to worse?

By Greetland & Stainland Ward Councillor, Paul Bellenger

Liberal Democrat Group Leader:

Labour were elected because people wanted something better than the Conservatives – or at least different. What we have, though, is something very similar – problems with donations, problems with staffing at the heart of government.

Some things have been different – but not in ways expected of Labour. Removing access to winter fuel payments for most pensioners, dropping the Adult Social Care Training and Development Fund. Locally, the Labour administration at Calderdale Council is looking at cutting the level of support provided to the poorest households through the Council Tax Reduction scheme.

Scrapping universal access to winter fuel payments will mean that – unless something else changes – pensioners in Calderdale will have around £10million less to spend this winter than previously. Making the Council Tax Reduction scheme less generous will save the Council £1million. Or, to put it another way, the poorest households in Calderdale will have £1m less to spend on things other than their Council Tax. Is taking around £11m out of the local economy a good idea?

Nationally and locally, Labour seems to be relying on additional housebuilding to improve the economy. The problem with this is that governments and councils do not build houses – bricklayers, roofers, plumbers and electricians etc do, and there is nowhere near enough discussion about the national shortages in these trades.

Skilled tradespeople will not suddenly appear tomorrow because the government has set a new, higher, housebuilding target.

I honestly don’t think this government can see the long term impact of its decisions; the elderly, the poor, the vulnerable, those who work in the private sector, all being hit financially by Labour’s recent decisions, and yet we are only three months into their running of the country.

I can’t say I’m surprised at what is happening as history has a way of repeating itself and we are possibly starting to see a red Margaret Thatcher, a leader wanting to make his mark on the country, and in my opinion, a politician who is in it for himself and not for the people of this country.

So, what else could we see over the coming months with Labour at the helm? The reduction in oil and gas companies, creating thousands of redundancies throughout this industry, and a stealth tax raid on private sector pensions.

Locally we see that the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree. We’ve seen our local Labour councillors supporting Keir Starmer’s winter fuel cuts at a recent full Council meeting, spending money on large projects that the public don’t want, wasting it on a controversial parking scheme and road changes in the Upper Valley, cycle lanes in areas of Calderdale that don’t need them and that will come at the cost of destroying healthy trees and a reduction in parking spaces.

People are now feeling hoodwinked into supporting Labour and no longer feel listened to and also feel as though this Labour-run authority is doing things to them rather than for them.