Demitri_C Posted March 12, 2021 Author Share Posted March 12, 2021 (edited) Just to show you i am not exaggerating about my local council Join now Menu POSTED ON 11 MARCH 2021 BY ENFIELD DISPATCH Quote Vote of ‘no confidence’ in Labour-run council set to take place The Conservative group deputy leader Edward Smith says the council is in “crisis” Conservative group claims ‘time is right’ to try to defeat Labour administration but council leader slams ‘futile stunt’, reports James Cracknell Councillors are set to vote next week on a motion of “no confidence in the Labour administration”. The opposition Conservative group submitted the motion following a series of defections and resignations among Labour councillors, most of whom have spoken publicly of their concerns over the way the council is being run. Over the last year, seven Labour councillors have either defected to a rival political group, Community First, or have quit the council altogether. An ‘extraordinary meeting’ has been now been called for Friday 19th March, just before purdah rules – that restrict party political debate – come in ahead of May’s local by-elections and City Hall election. The Tory group’s deputy leader, Edward Smith, said that they had been considering a motion of no confidence for some time but decided “the situation has now reached a crisis point” because of the accumulating number of defections and resignations of experienced Labour councillors “complaining of a culture of bullying and autocratic behaviour”. Cllr Smith told the Dispatch: “To hold an extraordinary council meeting there has to be an issue of some significance. There have been discussions about when was the right time, and we decided now was the right time. “The motion is directed at the failings of the Labour administration as a whole, it is not a personal motion. The continual defections of long-standing Labour councillors is a reflection of the culture within the current Labour group and the unhealthy nature of that. “We felt we couldn’t let it carry on and we wanted there to be a public discussion about that so the issues can be aired.” As well as the seven resignations and defections of Labour councillors, the Conservative group has raised concerns around council policies including the introduction of low-traffic neighbourhoods, support for controversial high-rise tower blocks, and “excessive” council borrowing. Cllr Smith concedes that the motion of no confidence is unlikely to succeed. The number of Conservative, Community First and independent councillors combined totals 22, but 31 votes would be needed to support the motion. The Tory deputy leader added: “We don’t expect to win this debate but we what we want to do is air a number of issues that people are concerned about. Residents do expect these things to be debated.” Council leader Nesil Caliskan said: “This futile stunt shows that Conservatives councillors have nothing positive to offer Enfield residents. It is a waste of council resource in the middle of public health crisis when council officers are under immense pressure and money is tight.” An Enfield Council spokesperson said: “We can confirm an extraordinary meeting of Enfield Council will take place at 7pm on 19th March. Details are available on the Enfield Council website. “It only requires five councillors to call an extraordinary meeting of Enfield Council. Extraordinary council meetings have been called in the past by opposition groups.” Edited March 12, 2021 by Demitri_C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 But, without wishing to be contrary @Demitri_C that doesn’t actually tell us anything about what it is they are doing so wrong? It just says the minority tory group are calling a vote that they don’t expect to win, because there has been churn amongst the labour councillors. Why? What’s happened? Beyond just saying they are rubbish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted March 12, 2021 Author Share Posted March 12, 2021 40 minutes ago, chrisp65 said: But, without wishing to be contrary @Demitri_C that doesn’t actually tell us anything about what it is they are doing so wrong? It just says the minority tory group are calling a vote that they don’t expect to win, because there has been churn amongst the labour councillors. Why? What’s happened? Beyond just saying they are rubbish. Well its saying something when labour councellors are defecting/resigning Like i have said before ltns, cycle lanes, not providing a good enough rubbish collection and pwople just get fed up and fly tip everywhere. Council wasting money on schemes that have been utter disasters. Honestly you need to live here and see how bad the councellors are. Caliskan i dislike more than khan and you know my opinion on him ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted March 12, 2021 Moderator Share Posted March 12, 2021 21 hours ago, OutByEaster? said: If Starmer was interested in bringing the factions in the Labour party together, suspending Beckett would go an awful long way to bringing a lot of people in the party back onto his side. It's an opportunity for him. You’ve got to be kidding? one woman in an unguarded remark calls another a “stupid cow” and you suspend them? Really? Even in these times of delicate flowers surely at most a private word in Beckett’s ear, like “maybe you should apologise and consider both the appropriateness of your language and your use of IT skills” would be the extent of what should happen. I mean if someone is suspended for that it will have 2 immediate adverse effects, firstly Beckett’s friends and allies will far from uniting, be angered and raise all the “what about that time when...” similar instances from other people, and there will be loads, and secondly every troublemaker on every side will start trawling social media, meeting minutes, “witnesses” ( real or fabricated) to settle scores, because if one person is suspended, then they all need to be. That way madness lies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted March 12, 2021 Moderator Share Posted March 12, 2021 36 minutes ago, blandy said: You’ve got to be kidding? one woman in an unguarded remark calls another a “stupid cow” and you suspend them? Really? Even in these times of delicate flowers surely at most a private word in Beckett’s ear, like “maybe you should apologise and consider both the appropriateness of your language and your use of IT skills” would be the extent of what should happen. I mean if someone is suspended for that it will have 2 immediate adverse effects, firstly Beckett’s friends and allies will far from uniting, be angered and raise all the “what about that time when...” similar instances from other people, and there will be loads, and secondly every troublemaker on every side will start trawling social media, meeting minutes, “witnesses” ( real or fabricated) to settle scores, because if one person is suspended, then they all need to be. That way madness lies. The Labour party suspended a councillor for calling someone a cow five days ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted March 12, 2021 Moderator Share Posted March 12, 2021 5 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: The Labour party suspended a councillor for calling someone a cow five days ago. That one's an even worse decision tbh Labour Councillor apparently called a Plaid MS a cow in a Private Labour Party Meeting that no-one was aware was being recorded Imagine calling a political openent a mildly insulting name in a private internal meeting and being suspended for it. Just imagine Margaret Thatcher was still alive, the Labour Party would have no members left 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted March 12, 2021 Moderator Share Posted March 12, 2021 Don't get me wrong, I don't really think either of them deserve to be suspended for the name calling, I'm just suggesting that it would be politically expedient for Starmer to suspend Beckett as a way of showing that he's taking a stiff line on anyone, regardless of which edge of the party they're from. Those on the right aren't going to ditch him on that basis, he's their boy and they'll stick with him, but he might move a fair few heads on the left to a position that's much more manageable to him. In fairness, I'm not expecting him to, the "If Starmer was interested in bringing the factions in the Labour party together" was meant in a partly humorous way - he's clearly got no interest in bringing the party together, he's looking to destroy the half of it he dislikes more than he dislikes the Tories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted March 12, 2021 Moderator Share Posted March 12, 2021 3 hours ago, OutByEaster? said: The Labour party suspended a councillor for calling someone a cow five days ago. In that case, the plot is lost. Left, right, centrist... whatever...knobbers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted March 13, 2021 Moderator Share Posted March 13, 2021 Stupid Labour Councillors being stupid part 1904326 1) they have learned nothing from closing bars early during thenpandemic 2) that statement makes no sense, there are already bars in both those areas that are licensed well beyond 4am, some have 24 hour licenses. Much of Liverpool's tourism success is about the ability to drink until the early hours as much as it's to do with That Band and football. The football and music tourism is going to be much slower in picking up compared to the internal tourism of UK residents visiting the city for a good time. Restrictions on travel in and out of the country, plus confidence from the US/Japanese markets will be slow. Same goes for football, The Scandis won't be coming back for the games just yet This idiot seemingly wants to kill a quick recovery in the name of grandstanding for his voters in the city centre, who have chosen to live in the city centre that has had a vibrant lifestyle for decades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 19 hours ago, Demitri_C said: Well its saying something when labour councellors are defecting/resigning From the outside, what it looks like is that there has been a generational shift in Enfield, with mostly younger, definitely more diverse and presumably more left-wing councillors being elected in recent years on the Labour ticket, and a number of the older more right-wing crowd have decided that they haven't got much chance of progressing into leadership positions, don't like their colleagues, and so are taking the opportunity to quit and create a scene as they do so. I sort of agree that it's 'saying something', though the thing it's saying is what we all know, which is that Labour's foreverwar shows no sign of slowing down any time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted March 14, 2021 Author Share Posted March 14, 2021 Just out of curiosity do any of you outside of london have anything like a ulez? What really bothers me about this is my 84 year old vulerable gran who lives by herself is going to fall into that category in September when extension happens. We do all her shopping for her so now we have to pay £15.£17.50 for the privilege of doing it for it. Khans a creep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted March 14, 2021 Author Share Posted March 14, 2021 18 hours ago, HanoiVillan said: From the outside, what it looks like is that there has been a generational shift in Enfield, with mostly younger, definitely more diverse and presumably more left-wing councillors being elected in recent years on the Labour ticket, and a number of the older more right-wing crowd have decided that they haven't got much chance of progressing into leadership positions, don't like their colleagues, and so are taking the opportunity to quit and create a scene as they do so. I sort of agree that it's 'saying something', though the thing it's saying is what we all know, which is that Labour's foreverwar shows no sign of slowing down any time. There is a hell of a lot of in fighting inbetween labour i agree with you there. Best thing would be the party to split and give people more choices as opposed to labour and conservatives. Its a shame the lib dems are so useless as really they should be that party Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 9 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: Just out of curiosity do any of you outside of london have anything like a ulez? There will be 'Clean Air Zones' starting this year in Bath and Birmingham Not sure the requirements are as stringent as London as my car (14 years old, petrol) qualifies as 'no charge' to drive into the two aforementioned places. Older diesels will struggle though. https://www.gov.uk/check-clean-air-zone-charge 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted March 14, 2021 Moderator Share Posted March 14, 2021 3 minutes ago, Xela said: There will be 'Clean Air Zones' starting this year in Bath and Birmingham Not sure the requirements are as stringent as London as my car (14 years old, petrol) qualifies as 'no charge' to drive into the two aforementioned places. Older diesels will struggle though. https://www.gov.uk/check-clean-air-zone-charge There's talk of one in Liverpool too, they are going to be pretty much countrywide in a few years. The proposed ones in Sefton are hilarious, one of them covers the entrance to the Docks, because all the lorries going in and out of the docks go through the gate there, that really isn't going to stop, nor are the big eff off cargo boats that run on diesel going to stop coming to the port. Meanwhile all the cars that HAVE to go past it to get anywhere (Its the only road out of the Crosby Area towards the city centre) will get charged for not causing that pollution at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted March 14, 2021 Author Share Posted March 14, 2021 29 minutes ago, Xela said: There will be 'Clean Air Zones' starting this year in Bath and Birmingham Not sure the requirements are as stringent as London as my car (14 years old, petrol) qualifies as 'no charge' to drive into the two aforementioned places. Older diesels will struggle though. https://www.gov.uk/check-clean-air-zone-charge Are you serious? Its abit pointless then I have a brand new nissan 1.4l qashqai thats 1 year old on a lease and its still a high polluting vehicle according to khans ULEZ website and i still have to pay. Its a absolute scam to penalise motorists. I get it for diesel and old polluting cars but this penalising everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted March 14, 2021 Author Share Posted March 14, 2021 24 minutes ago, bickster said: There's talk of one in Liverpool too, they are going to be pretty much countrywide in a few years. The proposed ones in Sefton are hilarious, one of them covers the entrance to the Docks, because all the lorries going in and out of the docks go through the gate there, that really isn't going to stop, nor are the big eff off cargo boats that run on diesel going to stop coming to the port. Meanwhile all the cars that HAVE to go past it to get anywhere (Its the only road out of the Crosby Area towards the city centre) will get charged for not causing that pollution at all Thats how it will start no charge then slowly they will start charging for older to newer cars before price goes up and then its extended for when its applicable if it isnt everyday from 7am-10pm already. Think about if you a taxi firm too its going to have a massive knock on effect for them too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted March 14, 2021 Moderator Share Posted March 14, 2021 5 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: Think about if you a taxi firm too its going to have a massive knock on effect for them too More profit. Charge every passenger that goes through it, pay once Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichfield Dean Posted March 14, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted March 14, 2021 It's all well and good having penalties for diesel cars, but the only reason I have one is because of previous idiotic policies that basically forced me to buy one (I hate the things and their stupid polluting engines but it became financially insane to buy anything else). Now they are trying to push everyone onto electric. But how many people can afford that? I mean, even a basic Leaf is £30,000!!!! It's crazy. I'd love to get an electric car to replace our little petrol i20 runaround but it's impossible at their current prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jareth Posted March 14, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted March 14, 2021 Oh ho - Boris Johnson is voters' clear choice for PM in new poll https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/mar/14/boris-johnson-is-voters-clear-choice-for-pm-in-new-poll I appreciate 'BoJo' is enjoying a vaccine bounce, but provided he doesn't f*ck it up from here on in, Starmer doesn't stand a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 So he both welcomes an independent investigation, and has already made up his mind on the findings. Impressive. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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