Cllr Georgia Gould

• AT a hustings last week I was very surprised when the local Conservative leader answered a resident’s question about sweeping Tory cuts to public services by announcing they were the “local Conservatives”.

While it is helpful for us all to know the “local Conservatives” are as embarrassed by their government as the rest of us, they said in the same breath they would remain neutral on all “national issues”.

That means a vote for the Conservatives on the May 5 is a vote for silence and indifference as our community suffers.

There are parents in Camden skipping meals so their children can eat and pensioners unable to afford to heat their homes.

The “local Conservatives’” manifesto has nothing to say about the cost of living crisis in our community.

When the Conservative government took the universal credit uplift away from families, plunging 400,000 children into poverty, the “local Conservatives” were silent.

For 12 years the Tory and Liberal Democrat coalition and then successive Tory governments have slashed Camden’s budget by two-thirds and hit our local services, and I have never heard the “local Conservatives” protest.

They have no local policy to help people abandoned by their government run by their own party.

Meanwhile Camden Labour have worked hard to be there for our community.

When the Tories failed to support people during the pandemic, we were there for the people of Camden, distributing more than 200,000 meals, more than two million pieces of PPE, personal protective equipment, and helping more than 500 rough sleepers.

When the Tory government dragged its feet about feeding children, we stepped in.

And when the Tory / Lib Dem government cut funding for council homes and schools, we found a way to build 500 council homes and invest over £165million into school buildings.

We stopped the local Tory / Lib Dem coalition policy of auctioning off council homes without buying new ones and instead bought back over 60 council homes lost to right-to-buy to house homeless families.

Despite Tory cuts of over 60 per cent to Camden’s budget, our Labour council spends seven times more than the average Conservative council on local safety measures such as street lighting and local wardens, and three times more on street cleaning.

We have worked hard to protect sure start centres, libraries, youth centres, when many Tory councils have slashed them.

Camden’s Labour council is one of the most generous councils in the country in supporting 22,000 residents to pay their council tax as the Tory cost of cost of living crisis hits.

If elected we will introduce a new £2million cost of living fund and support over 1,000 residents each year into good work and training.

A vote for Labour on May 5 is a vote for a community champion who will work hard for you locally and raise their voice for you nationally.

CLLR GEORGIA GOULD
Leader
Camden Council