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‘I need press officer to hold my hand’ says Miliband
LABOUR group members from Camden are in the thick of a determined
bid to derail government policy on council housing at the party’s
annual conference in Brighton.
Backbench councillor Pat Callaghan is due to take centre stage this
morning (Thursday) when she moves a motion in the main conference
hall which effectively calls on ministers to cough up millions of
pounds in direct investment to improve Camden’s crumbling council
homes.
The move comes after sev-eral flashpoints in a mixture of private
and fringe meetings on the south coast.
Camden leader Dame Jane Roberts collared housing minister Yvette
Cooper in a behind-closed-doors meeting on Tuesday afternoon.
She argued that bringing council homes up to scratch should be a
chief priority.
Later that day, Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson compared
the government’s funding strategy with Stalinist Russia in
an unrestrained attack at an open meeting in the seafront Belgrave
Hotel.
The stinging revolt has heaped pressure on Ms Cooper, as well as
her department bosses Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and David
Miliband to end their rigid refusal to fund repairs to Camden’s
homes.
The key figures, however, have dodged questions on the subject and
Mr Miliband took the ultra-defensive step of flatly rejecting the
chance to explain the government’s position.
He looked uncomfortable and wrinkled his nose after being door-stepped
by the New Journal at one fringe meeting. Mr Miliband, who grew
up in Camden and attended Haverstock School in Chalk Farm, insisted
that all of his interviews should be supervised by his personal
press officer, adding only: “It is a serious issue.”
But he and Ms Cooper are almost certain to face further grilling
after rank-and-file members, for the first time, were successful
in forcing the issue to a discussion on the main conference floor.
The debate has been put in the ‘top priority’ category
of debates after delegates decided that it was a more pressing issue
than the occupation of Iraq and other high-profile topics.
Due to begin this morning (Thursday), Councillor Callaghan will
take on the weight of the campaign by moving her motion.
She said: “We want direct investment in council housing and
we expect a Labour government to listen to a Labour conference.”
The tense stalemate hinges on the government’s refusal to invest
money in areas where tenants have voted against switching control
of their homes to a new management board known as Arms-Length Management
Organisation (Almo).
More than 70 per cent of tenants and leaseholders in Camden voted
against the scheme in January 2004. Planned improvements to homes
have since stalled and ministers have withdrawn an offer of £283
million in investment.
Mr Dobson, a former Health Secretary, told a meeting organised by
pressure group Defend Council Housing (DCH) on Tuesday: “We
held a ballot in Camden and 73 per cent of tenants and leaseholders
voted to stay with Camden Council. And what did the government say?
It said have another ballot. It seems Stalin lives.”
“It is not quite a protection racket where they come into a
bar and say ‘that’s a nice mirror you have got, it would
be a shame if it was broken’. Instead, they say ‘I’m
sorry about your broken mirror, but you can’t have any money
to fix it’.” |
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Look for vintage not barcode
WE are in the middle of a revolution in food.
FULL STORY...
... and another thing....
Typical isn’t it? You leave the country for a few days
and when you get back everything you thought you knew is wrong.
FULL STORY...
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