Hopeless Hammersmith council facing legal action over Sure Start cuts

Tory Hammersmith & Fulham council could pay the price for its contempt for local opinion if legal action succeeds in stopping massive cuts to Sure Start services, which provide early years support to local families.

Did Hammersmith Council act illegally?

The council has been served with an application for judicial review by parents who say it failed to consult properly.

H&F Tories stand accused of announcing a £1m reduction in funding for children's centres on 23 February, five days before the end of the consultation period. See details here and here.

But regular readers of this blog will know that the scandal actually started earlier, at a council meeting on 10 January, when the Tories voted to slash £3.2 million from Sure Start centres, reducing most of them to a shell.

Local Labour MP Andy Slaughter had discovered their plans in advance and at the January meeting, he and Labour councillors led massive local opposition to the cut. In a desperate move to stave off criticism, Cllr Helen Binmore, Cabinet Member for Children's Services, suddenly announced a consultation at the meeting. However, under further pressure from Labour councillors, she admitted that the £3.2 million would be cut no matter what the consultation said.

As we said at the time, “Why is she holding a consultation only after the decision has been made to slash £3.2 million from the Sure Start budget?...This is like cutting off someone’s right hand and then consulting on all the things they can still do with the left one.” See here.

 

Since then, top H&F official Andrew Christie has revealed that the cuts will leave the centres helping only 15% of the families they help now. The council has shut the door on giving most local children a much-needed opportunity to make friends and learn as they play, while parents will lose out on professional advice on health and family matters, information about training and jobs or just a rare chance to socialise with other families.

Note: Tory Hampshire County Council also faces legal action for failing to consult properly before cutting its Sure Start services. What an undemocratic, inept shower these Tories are.

News from Europe from Claude Moraes MEP

Dear Friends

Welcome to my May Newsletter, a chance for me to keep you up to date on what your London Labour MEP is doing on your behalf in Brussels, as well as to give you a regular analysis of what progressives are doing in the EU.

May was a busy month, during which I was lead negotiator for 185 MEPs of the Socialists and Democrats group on new Commission proposals on repairing the Schengen agreement on free movement, currently being torn apart by populist decisions in France and Italy. I highlighted this dangerous development, arguing the need to protect the Schengen agreement on free movement in both the Guardian and Independent newspapers, in the Financial Times and on the Radio 4 Today programme.

In addition, you can read here about other issues related to the events in North Africa, Europe's response, my work on civil liberties and other issues decided in the European Parliament that directly affect Londoners.
I also regularly update my website and Facebook page on this type of news and hope that this Report will be informative and establish an accountability link with you.
Please feel free to get in touch,

Claude Moraes MEP
Labour MEP for London
Deputy Leader, European Parliamentary Labour Party.

Schengen under threat
Following the North African migrant crisis, and subsequent argument between Italy and France on people fleeing Libya and Tunisia, some Member States are attacking the Schengen agreement on Europe's free movement of people. The Danish government has in fact reinstated its borders within Europe, and now the EU's agreement governing free movement in Europe is under threat.
We need to defend Schengen. During May, I have made this argument in the British press, being very clear on how passport free travel in the EU is at the heart of Europe's social and economic life. I've spoken on the BBC's Today programme and written for the European Movement on the proposed revision of Schengen, as well as to the Independent newspaper on the UK government's stance. I've also spoken out from the European Parliament on the issues surrounding this new attack on free movement in Europe.
At heart, the real issue is that the Schengen agreement could fall prey to Member States' reluctance to fix asylum and immigration policy, and I made this point during May when I wrote in the Guardian about the complexity of Schengen's recent history, and its development, in Europe.

Victims of Crime
This month, I met with Commissioner Viviane Reding and welcomed her new proposals from the European Commission on the rights of crime victims in Europe.
Labour in Europe has long argued for such rights and I welcomed the Commission's announcement. If abroad, the process of investigating crimes can place great strain on victims and their families. I want to ensure that such needs are not forgotten, and that Londoners falling victim to crime receive the same high quality of help, reassurance and support that they would if they were at home. Proposals include an EU victim support office in every Member State working with established victim support structures to provide translation and practical help with law enforcement, the courts, hospitals and so on.

Socialists and Democrats keep pushing for financial reform
In April, I reported to you how Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament achieved two milestones in financial reform: a report for an EU-wide Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) and a vote in the Parliament's economic committee to ban naked short selling, a speculative practice.
I also reported how the UK government is now set to oppose such moves from London, but is expected to fail given the strong support for such measures in France, Germany and other EU Member States.
Labour MEPs in Europe are keeping the pressure up, this month calling for openness in bankers pay and backing proposals in the European Parliament that include a call for banks to declare how many people they pay over €1 million per year. I also appeared on Sky News, The Jeff Randall Show, to explain the latest developments on the recent ECOFIN meeting on the Irish and Portugese bailo uts and new EU legislation restricting short selling and tax evasion.

Seasonal Workers
I've written for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants about how Europe is facing difficult decisions on legal migration and seasonal workers, especially given current events and the pressures on the Schengen agreement.
As the European Parliament's Rapporteur on the Seasonal Workers Directive, I can see how the European Parliament's new powers under the Lisbon Treaty have allowed MEPs to undertake real efforts to fix asylum and immigration laws in Europe, and swim against the tide of populist anti-immig ration rows in countries like Italy and France. 

Opposition Watch
The Conservatives are starting to show serious rifts on Europe, with their Budgets spokesperson James Elles MEP accusing eurosceptic Tory MEPs of damaging attempts at constructive EU engagement. He said "Those in our ranks, who are allowed too much leeway on wanting to withdraw, are being disloyal to the Party at a time when our leadership needs - and deserves - utmost loyalty. These people should put up or shut up in the interests of the Party."
Following UKIP's disastrous showing in the May 6th elections, South East MEP Marta Andreasen att acked party leader and fellow UKIP MEP Nigel Farage, calling for him to quit the leadership.
Although UKIP did not lose any councillors, it made no gains. Farage had suggested UKIP could 'double' its number of councillors. Andreasen said "It is time for change. Mr Farage has abjectly failed to deliver and is not leading the party on the course to victory. Even he must recognise this fact."

Labour Party News
Peter Hain MP has reported on both Labour's policy making review (Partnership into Power) and the party's structures (Refounding Labour). The European Parliamentary Labour Party is making a submission which I will send to you.
In addition, the "New Politics, Fresh Ideas" policy review being led by Liam Byrne has already had 12,500 responses online.
In the coming weeks, I'll have also reported to or be reporting back to the following La bour CLPs personally:
Romford CLP - May 26th 2011
Hackney South CLP - June 23rd 2011
Ealing Central and Acton CLP - July 28th 2011

In Parliament
I regularly speak and ask Parliamentary Questions in plenary sessions of the European Parliament and all of this work can be found here.

To get in touch
 
London office
Edward Price, Manager
Tel: 0207 609 5005
Email: office@claudemoraes.net

Parliamentary office
Tel: 00 32 2 284 7553
Fax: 00 32 2 284 9553
Email: claude.moraes@europarl.europa.eu

 

Greek Eurovision act as f***** up as their economy, says Tory H&F councillor Greg Smith

Potty-mouthed Tory councillor Greg Smith, Hammersmith & Fulham's cabinet member for residents’ services, is known for pulling no punches, whether justifying his council’s violent cuts or running campaigns for the radical, right-wing Young Britons’ Foundation.

He tweeted his latest words of wisdom during yesterday’s Eurovision Song Contest. No doubt the many Greeks living in west London will appreciate them in the jovial spirit in which they were intended.

Harry Phibbs humiliated as Toby Young deserts him and only 350 turn up at pro-cuts rally

Harry Phibbs, a senior H&F Tory councillor who is on record as saying the cuts don’t go far enough, has spent the last six weeks drumming up support for his pro-cuts rally in central London yesterday. Sadly for him, only 350 people turned up, compared with over 250,000 who rallied against the cuts in March.

Did Phibbs even bother to go, we wonder? His mate Toby Young, another pro-cuts head-banger, excused himself by saying he was at the launch of a pirates exhibition at the Museum of London, even though this isn't happening until next Wednesday: see here for details. 

Mind you, the museum – one of the country’s best – is itself facing cuts of £1 million. If they’d seen Tobes of Tobes Hall, perhaps they’d have made him walk the plank.

The 350 cutter-nutters are about the same number as the anarchist twerps who tried to disrupt the anti-cuts rally and who, like yesterday’s damp squib, got media coverage out of all proportion to their size.

UPDATE, 16 MAY, 13.30

It's more pathetic than we thought. There were actually only 150 people, not 350, at the pro-cuts rally, says Buddyhell: see his comment below and piece here.

Meanwhile, 8,000 disabled people and their supporters marched on Friday to express solidarity and anger about the cuts threatening disabled people's benefits, services, jobs and rights. See report here.

Let's hope Phibbs and his ilk have learnt something., They should hang their heads in shame.

Tory council "nobbling" Fulham & Hammersmith Chronicle says Private Eye

Private Eye reports that Tory H&F council appears to be “nobbling” the Fulham and Hammersmith Chronicle by transferring all its advertising - worth £450,000 - there from the propaganda sheet H&F News (closed by order of Eric Pickles).

The Eye says, “What the Chronicle will do if it gets a story that challenges the [council’s] spin doctors’ line has not been explained.” See full story below.

The advertising contract with the council reaps the paper £75,000 a year for six years. Only £36,500 of this is for statutory notices, reckons Labour opposition leader Steve Cowan, which leaves £38,500 a year for propaganda. See details here.

Andy Slaughter MP says vote Yes to AV and stop the Tory money men

In this extract from his latest constituency newsletter, Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith, explains why he'll be voting Yes to AV

Last year the Tories tried to buy the election in Hammersmith. They spent half a million aching to get their candidate elected. More than any other constituency in the UK – ever. One reason they took the risk is that they knew they only had to get about 40% of the vote. Getting the extra 10% of ‘floating’ vote to give an actual majority would cost a lot more. It’s one reason the whole Tory Party is behind the status quo – they thrive on well-primed minorities rather than open-minded majorities

And so of course when Cameron thought he was losing the referendum debate he put the Tory money men into the ‘No’ campaign – 97% of the supposedly all-party ‘No’ vote funds come from Tory donors.

Too late, Clegg and co. have woken up to the fact that their Coalition partners play dirty.  First past the post can let extremists into power - like the Hammersmith Tories, which is why I'm happy to work Merlene Emerson and the local Lib Dems to campaign for a fairer system.

I see some risk with fully proportional systems – frivolous or extremist candidates slipping under the bar, unstable governments and the loss of the constituency link – but AV seems to me a win-win system. You keep a local MP but one who has to prove he or she can represent a broader range of constituents. It means fewer of those complacent, detached, born-to-rule MPs who have safe seats for life. It means everyone gets the opportunity to vote both for their preferred candidate in the heats and in the final. No one forces you to express a second preference but if you do your vote is only counted once in the final reckoning.

So the Tories want to continue to get elected on a minority vote, and change constituency boundaries to give them maximum advantage. At this rate they won’t have to gerrymander Hammersmith with their estate demolition plans to get elected.

The Guardian exposes Hammersmith Tories' closure of mental health hostel

Although Hammersmith and Fulham council's own draft Supporting People strategy says that mental health accommodation in the borough is oversubscribed, the Tory council took the decision last month to close the 14-unit Tamworth hostel for adults with mental health problems such as schizophrenia, severe depression, alcoholism and drug dependency.

All the staff will be made redundant and the building sold (with this council, there’s always a property angle).

The Guardian has the details (hat tip to the Shepherd’s Bush blog). It says, “There's a feeling that with this sort of closure, we're getting a glimpse into austerity's darkest corners – corners where sufferers of severe mental illness rot in substandard B&Bs, or end up on the street.”

H&F council chief given 'unfit' payout then gets £200,000 role, says Indie

Regular readers will recall the shocking tale of Nick Johnson, housing supremo at Tory Hammersmith & Fulham council. He was named Retiree of the Year in Private Eye's Rotten Boroughs Awards for retiring early from Bexley Council in 2007 with a £50,000 pension on grounds of permanent ill health only to pop up the following year in Hammersmith to run the council's arm-length housing organisation H&F Homes, which has earned him nearly a million pounds of public money.

Now we learn from the Independent on Sunday (Council chief given 'unfit' payout then gets £200,000 role - hat tip Shepherd's Bush blog) that the Audit Commission is investigating the consultancy fees the council has paid Mr Johnson. The matter has also been referred to HM Revenue & Customs.

The council has been criticised by the (Tory) local government minister Grant Shapps, who said, "It's not justifiable to have healthy employees working in local government and claiming an ill-health benefit at the same time. Councils have power to stop such payments and should use them."

Mind you, when Steve Cowan, H&F's Labour opposition leader, wrote to Shapps's bosss Eric Pickles to suggest that Johnson should forfeit his Bexley pension for now by being moved from a private contractor status onto PAYE, Pickles was distincly unenthusiastic.

The Indie added, "While running H&F Homes, contracts for sheltered housing services were awarded to Notting Hill Housing, a London housing association run by Mr Johnson's partner, Ms Davies. There is no suggestion of impropriety or a conflict of interest."

Picking up the story on Monday, the Daily Mail (Council boss quits due to PERMANENT ill health. Weeks later he lands a new public sector job on £260,000 a year) noted that Ms Davies earned £197,000 a year as Notting Hill Housing's chief executive.

The Mail also gave an idea of the noble self-sacrifice Mr Johnson has made for H&F taxpayers, quoting him as saying, "I understand the interest in all this but what I earn is really not a lot. I could double or triple my salary if I was working as a consultant in the private sector."

Let's hope the Audit Commission can finally shed light on this deeply odd state of affairs.

PS Let's not forget that the job Mr Johnson was brought into do was to modernise more than 17,000 Hammersmith council homes with funding from the last Labour government’s £230 million Decent Homes programme. No chance of that happening these days.

Latest news from Claude Moraes MEP

Dear Friends

Welcome to my latest Newsletter, a chance for me to keep you up to date on what your London Labour MEP is doing on your behalf in Brussels, as well as to give you a regular analysis of what progressives are doing in the EU.

Many countries in Europe are addressing national pressures associated with the wider recession and Eurozone crisis. As this happens, and as painful cuts are made to national budgets, centre right governments are turning to the politics of anti-immigration, or scapegoating. April, for example, saw Sarkozy and Berlusconi try to suspend the Schengen Treaty on free movement to manage an argument on how many refugees from North Africa they should accept. Similarly, Hungary's right wing Fidesz government has enacted a populist and anti-minority Constitution this month.

I regularly update my website and Facebook page on this type of news and hope that this Report will be informative and establish an accountability link with you.

Please feel free to get in touch (see below for details).

Claude Moraes MEP

Labour MEP for London

Deputy Leader, European Parliamentary Labour Party

Reforming the European Arrest Warrant

I welcomed moves by the European Commission to reform the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) this month. The UK uses Eurojust more than any other Member State.

The Commission is quite right to point out and seek to address how the EAW is being increasingly misused for trivial arrests in Europe. As Socialists and Democrats Group Spokesperson for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, I see how the EAW should be used to counter serious cross border crime in Europe, rather than for a series of smaller offences referred by national judges. This is something that has given the Eurosceptic lobby in Britain ammunition to attack a cross border initiative which has apprehended many serious organised criminals.

I explained in the Guardian in April how Eurojust was being accessed more frequently and successfully by the UK.

I met with London and UK representatives of ‘Age Platform UK' on April 15 to brief them on the latest developments in the EU on aging and older people. This is a vast area of work in the EU and the key areas of activity are both legislative and political.  We have seen a number of political advances in the area of non-discrimination, an ar ea where I'm working with other MEPs to ensure that we have a ‘Horizontal Directive' which will encompass age discrimination along with the other categories of disability and sexual orientation in the provision of services.

A Race Equality Directive and Employment Directive are already transposed in Member States including the UK, but more needs to be done on crucial areas of discrimination in financial services and access to other services that Member States are unwilling to make progress on. Currently, Member States are seeking only to deal with disability discrimination, but aging is also a critical issue being addressed by the European Parliament.

Aviation Security and Body Scanners

I called for serious safe guards to be built into the way we use body scanner technology as a part of the security regime in European airports, during the legislative passage of the Aviation security report in the European Parliament.

The Socialists and Democrats Group position is clear. We need to ensure that, whilst any new technology is contributing to our safety, it is also not detracting from either our civil liberties or our privacy including the use of the naked outlines of screened passengers. I've spoken about this important issue, and made these points on how the new technology should be used and monitored in European airports.

Middle East and North African Protests and EU Asylum and Immigration Policy

As reported to you in my last newsletter, I am working hard on the EU's immigration and asylum policy. Current events in North Africa  and the Middle East point to how Europe needs to plan not only ways to help people fleeing violence, over the short term, but also for the longer term health of a viable and fair European asylum and immigration policy.

As the situation in Libya continues to escalate, and as we have no real idea as to what the end game will be, I will continue to monitor the role of the European Commission and Council. I will continue to argue from the European Parliament for a measured and effective humanitarian response to the refugees fleeing the country, understanding that  hundreds of people fleeing Libya have already tragically died.

Socialists and Democrats win financial reform

The Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament have achieved two milestones in financial reform, backing a report for an EU-wide Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) and a vote in the Parliament's economic committee to ban naked short selling, a speculative practice.

The UK government is now set to oppose such moves f rom London, but is expected to fail given the strong support for such measures in France, Germany and other EU Member States.

UK government U-turn on human trafficking

During its final plenary sitting before Christmas, the European Parliament endorsed a deal with EU governments to tackle illegal human trafficking. However, in August the UK government decided to opt out.

I argued against the UK government' s position on human trafficking then. Now, I and Labour MEPs have welcomed news that the UK government will finally opt in to EU proposals to combat human trafficking, despite the fact the UK lost any chance it might have had to make the Directive even stronger or more effective at the beginning of the process.

Opposition Watch

Some senior and mainstream European politicians including David Cameron have openly opposed the role of immigration in European life.

David Cameron's recent and opportunistic speech on immigration made clear his anti-immigrant views, something even members of his own cabinet openly opposed.

Conservative and UKIP MEPs have voted against establishing an EU directive on gender-based violence. They were joined by the majority of the Liberal Democrats, UKIP and the BNP in voting against calling on EU member states to "facilitate access to free legal aid enabling victims to assert their rights throughout the Union". Edward McMillan-Scott voted in favour, and Catherine Bearder abstained, alongside the Earl of Dartmouth, Marta Andreasen and Nigel Farage.

Conservative, UKIP and BNP MEPs also voted against calling on the EU and its Member States to establish a legal framework that would give immigrant women the right to hold their own passport and residence permit and make it possible to hold a person criminally responsible for taking these documents away.

Labour Party News

In April, I sent an email on behalf of the Ken Livingstone for mayor campaign. I would like to pass my thanks on to the many of you who responded to this email by attending a successful phone banking session in support of Ken's 2012 mayoral campaign.

In the coming weeks, I'll have also reported to or be reporting back to the following Labour CLPs personally:

Islington North CLP - April 20th 2011

Hornsey and Wood Green CLP - April 27th 2011

Romford CLP - May 26th 2011

Hackney South CLP - June 23rd 2011

Ealing Central and Acton CLP - July 28th 2011

In Parliament

I regularly speak and ask Parliamentary Questions in plenary sessions of the European Parliament and all of this work can be found here.

To get in touch

London office
Edward Price, Manager
Tel: 0207 609 5005
Email: office@claudemoraes.net

Parliamentary office
Tel: 00 32 2 284 7553
Fax: 00 32 2 284 9553
Email: claude.moraes@europarl.europa.euAge Platform UK Meeting