Wandsworth Conservatives

Well, here we are again at the end of another year. It has certainly been an interesting year in the Council with lots of good news and some bad news. On the plus side, Wandsworth has continued to provide excellent services for residents including plans for children’s centres across the borough well advanced, the re-opening of the Tooting Hub and the good news about the re-development of Tooting Library. We have also continued to provide the lowest Council tax in the Country protecting many of our poorest residents from a highly regressive tax.

On the down side, we have seen the closure of the Bolingbroke Hospital and a three year funding deal from the Government which gives us the smallest possible increase and well below the rate of inflation. This will inevitably mean that more difficult decisions lie ahead for Councillors as we seek to continue to provide excellent services with low Council tax.

Although, it is traditional to be optimistic for the year ahead I suspect that 2008 will see a lot of bad news for a lot of families. The effect of the credit crunch, the slowing of the UK economy and the deterioration of the Nations finances all point to a bad year, with higher unemployment, higher taxes, higher mortgage rates and falling house prices. Unfortunately, our ‘Prudent’ Prime Minister has turned out not to be ‘Prudent’ and has gone on a spending splurge that has left no money for a rainy day. The consequences will be extremely painful and I predict that the Citizens Advice Bureau will be very busy next year dealing with families in financial difficulties.

On the optimistic front, at least we have the opportunity to replace the London Mayor and provide some relief for the residents of London from his huge increases in Council tax and wasteful services.

Happy new year.

I have never seen such disarray and shambles….

City Hall sleaze is being splashed daily across the London newspapers. Surely a full investigation by the official District Auditor is the only way forward. I sense that a real clear out is urgently needed.

Brown and his limping and dithering Government can’t get anything right - Northern Rock well and truly “on the rocks”; complete loss of trust by the nation’s police in the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary over fair pay; loss of so much confidential information on CDs that have gone missing; records of asylum seekers and various other arrivals in this country gone haywire; appalling lack of any consideration for those of us living under present and fatally flawed planned Heathrow routes; expected travel chaos as Christmas approaches; and then there’s the England football team fiasco……..

I find it difficult to believe how anybody could trust the Government or London’s Labour Party again, as daily we see the evidence of their incompetence. Thank goodness in London Boris Johnson, as the Mayor-in-waiting, is tackling the various important City matters - policing issues, transport infrastructure, cost-effective management, the environment in which we live in the Capital, health and more. 2008 has a lot for Londoners to look forward to. Get Livingstone out (he’s well past his sell-by date) and get sound Conservative administration into City Hall. Then David Cameron’s entry to Number 10 will follow in good order…..