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In a divided community like Ealing Central and Acton...

Are the Lib Dems the natural choice to balance views?Or is this a vote for the Tories "by the back door" as Rupa Huq claims?We live in an unfair society - those on the Sunday Times Rich List have doubled their wealth in the past ten years. This happened under both Labour and Conservative governments. Will either of them now act to prevent a continuation of this concentration of wealth in increasingly few hands? Are today's Labour Party even actually socialist?In my view Britain should move towards a Scandinavian style society. Discuss

Julian Smith ● 4150d25 Comments

I don't believe that all councillors are corrupt at all and I'm not saying ours are.  What i'm saying is that they are dominant in our area as Labour Councillors (they could be Lib Dem or Tory Councillors, it makes no difference) and as such there is an overwhelming theme of Labour policies and if they are told to vote a certain way, they will.  It does happen.  Surely.  You'd have to be born on the moon to think it doesn't.  :-)

Angela White ● 4149d

I would like to suggest that these virtuous councillors listen more and work more for the community. Something sadly lacking with the majority of the present council.

Jan Gayle-Farlow ● 4149d

I beg to differ

Julian Smith ● 4149d

Your viewpoint seems to be that local councillors are somehow corrupt or in thrall to other forces. This isn't true of any of the parties. They are for the most case individuals with their own opinions trying to do the best for local communities within the limits imposed on them.Political party members are just community motivated people working together to achieve some general aims despite individual disagreement. None of us operate to some central diktat.

Pete Grist ● 4149d

There are councils run by apolitical residents' parties - Epsom where my brother lives is one.I think it preferable too. But while the two top parties have strong machines in a borough, really unlikely to happen

Sara Nathan ● 4149d

Yep, who knows. I forgot how much I hate politics!

Julian Smith ● 4149d

Agree re Jon Ball.  Seems like a very good Councillor.  Question is, would he be so if the Council had a majority Lib Dem presence?  Toe the line thing again?  Not saying that Jon Ball would, but this political business seems to strip them of their individuality at times.

Angela White ● 4149d

I like Jon Ball - a lot. Very decent chap..

Julian Smith ● 4149d

I agree, totally re the electoral reform.  I'm actually still swinging, slightly, you might be surprised to know, but not with Labour.  My Vlod indeed!

Angela White ● 4149d

Definitely we will talk.I hate that line from Rupa too, and have told her in no uncertain terms. If you won't take a chance on her, then that means you plan to vote for Angie? I'm sorry, but in my mind that is a vote for certain failure, rather than a chance for success...We need electoral reform. Look at the way the votes stack up... Maybe another coalition from FPTP may force the issue. Fundamentally, particularly at a local level, we need more community involvement between elections. Electronic referendum on most significant issues perhaps. So many local councillors (obviously not including "your" Vlod ;) ) are absolutely useless - ill-informed and unintelligent. That we place control of our neighbourhoods in their hands is shocking

Julian Smith ● 4149d

A good idea, Jules, and something that has been talk about, so let's chat anyway.  We need an umbrella group which pulls on all the residents' associations.Yes, Notley is yer man but, however, unless he gets a shed load of votes, one of the others may sneak in the backdoor.  The Labour candidate used this as her opening line, twice that I know of, and I didn't like it....I like to have choice, but I get what she's saying, just not as a "vote for me" line.  So, it's the lesser of the 2 evils, terribly sadly.  Cannot take a chance on Rupa, sorry, too much at stake.I agree re the Council should be independent......and why wouldn't that work, if, for example, the Leader of the Council was A-political?  A swinger!  ;-)  There must be a way around it.  These parties have it sewn up at local and national level.  It is wrong.  Perhaps having 3 Councillors from 3 different parties for each Ward would help?  I don't know.  We need a think tank.

Angela White ● 4149d

I think the Councils should be independent of political party. But of course that would be completely unenforceable in practice.One thing I have been thinking about, and (just) started working on, is getting the residents' associations together into a collective body. First in Ealing, but really we need this across London. Maybe then, by lobbying together, being vigilant and publicly shaming, we can actually force  these complacent politicians to listen to us

Julian Smith ● 4149d

You made me genuinely laugh out loud Angela - thank youSo we should all vote for Jonathan Notley then?  He will certainly stick it to the Council at every opportunity!But Rupa is much cuter than JN :D

Julian Smith ● 4149d

Hi Jules, me again......perhaps this is something worth pursuing?  Our Councillors and their Leader are there to represent the residents, not their national party, surely?  I see them (ideally) like Union Reps, who take our concerns to the management (the Council itself).  As far as I'm seeing and I've heard, that's not happening very well at all, something is wrong.  Any ideas, if we were to campaign on this at national level, how we could do things differently?

Angela White ● 4149d

Hi Jules.  You've just answered your own question, perhaps?  Our MP wasn't able to influence the ugly North Acton build.  Why would another MP?  From what I've seen of Rupa Huq too, she hasn't the gravitas to command that authority in my humble observations.  No, it has become apparent to me that none of the political parties would criticise policies made by those of the same political standing openly.  Whether they could lean on them privately is another matter.  However, what has also become apparent to me is that the Labour Council are PRO building what the hell these developers like and as long as it ticks boxes for the Council (106 monies, someone else builds and supplies the housing targets in large chunks without much imagination at all and ticks all the boxes for their targets) the Labour Council at the very top do not care one jot.  Those Councillors underneath that leadership do what they are told in the main.  And this housing box is a big box to tick.  What makes you think Rup Huq is going to save us?  It would have to be a very big, very brave person to do so and not someone who was a new MP.  Having a Labour MP will give credibility to our Labour Council - something I think we should snatch away from them at every chance.

Angela White ● 4149d

Hi Angela, I agree with you that Angie Bray also appears to be against the unpopular property developments locally. However it was Rupa Huq, not Angie Bray, who came to sit with us (as objectors) in the Ealing Planning Committee meeting when they considered the planning application for a huge hotel in our midst. Angie was not there.. She has claimed this was due to commitments at Westminster, although has not replied to my question as to whether she was under a three line whip (I suspect not).What you go on to say is probably the crux of the matter though - will a Labour MP just toe the party line? Or might she actually be able to wield some influence through party channels? It's a moot point. Regarding your comments on her alignment with Hitesh Taylor, perhaps Rupa needs to be questioned some more. So far, in all discussions with her, she has been firmly against developments which are harmful to existing local residents. One thing I do know is that Angie Bray was unable to prevent the ugly and inappropriate developments in North Acton, and I am not particularly keen to give her another chance to fail. Harsh I know, and inviting flames, but we have to judge results achieved - not letters sent and meetings arranged. Much greater amount of fuel on fire :)

Julian Smith ● 4149d

Hi Jules.  I don't see how the Labour candidate would have anymore influence over our Council than our Tory candidate could but you say Rupa Huq (Labour) has "demonstrated that she is on our side, so maybe Party influence would be greater?"  Can you tell me how she's demonstrated this?  I've missed it.  Also, Angie Bray (Tory) has been on our side with the Horn Lane Industrial pollution issue (I believe she attends the meetings) and she came out to walk and talk to residents on the Friary Park estate, then met with Catalyst.  So, she clearly has demonstrated she is on our side.I get what you're saying.....we want to know how much influence over our Local Council (Labour) our MP is going to have??  I was told "no influence at all" when I started this type of debate up a few weeks back.  However, I think that's not the case.....I believe that they are aligned - Tory Local to Tory National and Labour Local to Labour National.  They will, unless terribly brave, toe the line.  With this in mind......my ears shot-up when I heard the Labour candidate at this week's Hustings that the Labour target is for as much social housing as possible.  At what cost is that, I thought?  The cost of residents living in these places already and to residents living in these social houses, in highrises, high density levels (where suburban areas are changed to urban area category just to accommodate such targets) along with rent rises, shoddy workmanship, etc.  My ears also shot-up when the Labour candidate said she'd been working closely with the Local Labour Councillor, Hitesh Tailor.  I believe Cllr Tailor is in favour of these builds were are all concerned about.  He was the Cabinet Minister for Housing previously, didn't join our Special Meeting for a Q&A session this week to discuss Friary Park and retweeted a Tweet about the Friary Park estate one of our members tweeted and immediately deleted it, it would seem.  So, I am alarmed by having a Labour MP along with a Labour Council.  Fuel on fire.  Sorry to say.

Angela White ● 4149d

I was hoping for some interesting debate/opinions on this thread - instead we end up talking about the Local Council again...

Julian Smith ● 4149d

What I want to know is the extent to which Ealing Council operates autonomously from the wider Labour Party, to what extent is it influenced by Virendra Sharma (Julian Bell's other employer and Labour MP for Southall), and to what extent is it, or can it, be controlled by the central Labour Party?Given that we are stuck with them for another three years, and given the increasingly damaging decisions they seem likely to take, we need to find the best 'levers' to pull...Maybe that is public shaming, collective grass roots action, a more effective MP, or something else.If you've got any ideas Jan, Maire, I'm all ears...

Julian Smith ● 4150d

Sorry your wrong on this one. Angie Bray can talk to the council and try to influence them, but the council has the final vote. Ms Huq would be in the same position If I am not wrong a Labour councillor gave backing with the protestors against the devolpment of the Oaks and then voted with the council for the development. I don't think that the Council behaved at all well in their lack of preparation for the planning debate over the Premier Inn at the corner off Horn Lane and the A40. I think it was deferred till after the election so any bad news wouldn't  be reflected in people's voting.Well that's Ealing Labour for you.

Jan Gayle-Farlow ● 4150d

Completely agree regarding our Labour Council - disasterHowever, Angie Bray has been "powerless" to stop them...Rupa Huq has demonstrated that she is on our side, so maybe Party influence would be greater? I have no idea really, and then there are national issues to consider. It's a very tough choice for us. And the planning policies come from Boris and Central Government as well as Local Council. #stuckinthemiddle

Julian Smith ● 4150d

That is an easy one Pete. We haven't forgotten  the Oaks as we are just about to pay the costs. We are just beginning to see what is planned for Friary Park and the surrounding streets.  Then there is the Redbrick Housing estateresidents who are downright terrified  of the future. Acton residents are beginning to realise just what has been happening since a Labour  majority was voted in the local elections.

Maire Lowe ● 4150d

Or to find a safe place to park their ill-gotten gains? And it is not just the Top 20 which matters.My point is that there is another social model - which is 'flatter' and fairer to all. Policies which pander to the super rich have not seen the bulk of the population benefit. It's an ideological argument.I am reminded of the line from "Sit Down" by James: "If I hadn't seen such riches, I could live with being poor"

Julian Smith ● 4150d

In Ealing Central & Acton, it is a clear close fight between Labour and Tories, and you will see us featured as one of the top marginals. So voters here do have a real choice as to whether they would prefer a Labour or Tory government. So, if you don't really support either, you have to ask yourself which party is most likely to respond to future campaigning to take the country in the direction you would like.

Pete Grist ● 4150d

If you scrutinise the Times Rich List, 15 of the 'top 20' made their money overseas before coming to enjoy our democratic. low tax and law-abiding nation.  Nothing wrong in that.

Nigel Brooks ● 4150d