THE Labour leadership cut off a left-wing CLP’s means of communicating with the rest of the party’s membership after refusing to answer its questions about a paedophile former councillor in an alleged cover-up feared to go “right to the top of the party,” sources told the Morning Star.
Party bosses removed Hackney North and Stoke Newington CLP’s access to its Organise mailing system a day after banning discussions about Dame Meg Hillier’s former agent Thomas Dewey’s legal proceedings at a meeting in July.
Today local Labour members described it as “a very covert method of shutting down all local democracy without going as far as suspending a CLP” as well as a “convenient” way for the Labour leadership to avoid internal scrutiny over its ongoing suspension of their constituency MP Diane Abbott’s whip.
The Morning Star understands the tactic has mostly been used to silence left-wing CLPs after Sir Keir Starmer became party leader in April 2020.
There are now calls for an investigation into who knew what after Mr Dewey narrowly won a council seat last May, days after he was arrested over child sex abuse image offences during a police raid at the home he shared with Hackney’s elected mayor Philip Glanville.
Hackney Council’s executive claimed his resignation from his post later that month was merely for “personal reasons” and local Labour activists were kept in the dark about the nature of the arrest until his charges were reported in the media more than a year later.
FBU general secretary Matt Wrack, who says the union has ‘a duty to make our voices heard on matters of fire safety’
A FRESH legal challenge against the government’s stalled plan to house asylum-seekers on the “deathtrap” Bibby Stockholm barge has been launched by firefighters, their union revealed today.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) outlined its concerns over safety aboard the barge in a pre-action protocol letter sent by lawyers to Home Secretary Suella Braverman on Friday.
It had previously written to Ms Braverman asking for a meeting to discuss its concerns that the boat was a “potential deathtrap,” but the request was turned down earlier this month.
A response to the legal challenge is required by 4pm on Thursday.
FBU general secretary Matt Wrack explained that the union had “a duty to make our voices heard on matters of fire safety, especially when politicians let our members and the wider public down.”
He said: “We have been sounding the alarm about the Bibby Stockholm for weeks.
“It is disgraceful that the Home Secretary is not even willing to meet us to discuss these concerns.
The Mayor of London has given an impassioned defence of his decision to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) across all London Boroughs, saying that he had seen the devastating consequences of air pollution.
Appearing on LBC, Khan highlighted how there were now ‘third fewer children being admitted to hospital with asthma related illnesses caused by air pollution’ as a result of ULEZ.
Tweeting a clip of his appearance, the Mayor of London wrote: “I took the decision to expand the ULEZ because experts believe it will save lives. It wasn’t an easy one, but we cannot delay action when toxic air is linked with conditions like cancer and dementia. Air pollution particles have even been found in the brains of unborn babies.”
Khan went on to tell listeners on LBC: “We know that ULEZ is effective. How do we know that? Because in central London when we introduced the ULEZ we saw a reduction of almost 50% of the toxicity in our air, there are third fewer children being admitted to hospital with asthma related illnesses caused by air pollution, we’ve expanded it in London and we’ve seen a further improvement of 20% in our air.
Parliamentary committees need to investigate water company accounting, especially as they are continuing with the practices that brought down Carillion.
Image of a burst water main.
Prem Sikka is an Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex and the University of Sheffield, a Labour member of the House of Lords, and Contributing Editor at Left Foot Forward.
Ever since its privatisation in 1989, the water and sewage industry in England and Wales has set new standards in ripping people off.
Profits are made by not plugging water leaks and by dumping tons of sewage in rivers and seas. More than one trillion litres of water is lost to leaks from crumbling pipes each year. In 2022, raw sewage was dumped into rivers and seas 824 times a day, nearly 301,000 times a year over 1.75m hours. Despite higher demand, no new reservoirs have been built since privatisation. With captive customers and no competition, companies have hiked charges by 40% in real terms. The biggest winners are shareholders. More than 90% of the nine water companies are owned by overseas investors.
Since privatisation, companies have paid £72bn in dividends and another £15bn is expected by the 2030. These are largely funded by over £60bn of debt. To soothe public anxieties, Ministers claim that since 1989 water companies have invested £190bn. Such claims need to be treated with caution as the companies have a history of murky accounting practices.
Thames Water is England’s’ biggest water company. Since 2010, it has been sanctioned 92 times by the regulators and paid fines of £163m. Since privatisation, it has paid £7.2bn in dividends and has debts of around £14bn.
Taking cue from the water company, in June 2023 a Minister told parliament that “Thames Water itself has not paid any dividends for the last six year”. Of course, water companies are not operating as not-for-profit organisations and are masters of financial engineering and obfuscation.
Page 43 of the company’s 2022-23 financial report describes £45m payment (£37m for 2022) to its immediate parent company Thames Water Utilities Holdings Limited as “dividend” which then forwards it to Thames Water Utilities Limited and is still described as “dividend”. The same page then claims that it is not really a dividend because its purpose is to “solely to service debt obligations and group related costs of other companies within the wider Kemble Water Group”. Page 22 of the 2022 accounts of Thames Water Utilities Holdings Limited shows “Dividend Income” of £37.1m. Anything described as a “dividend” in the accounts is a dividend and in the last two years alone this amounts to £82m (£45m + £37m). Since privatisation, vast amounts are likely to have travelled via this route to the company’s ultimate controllers but are not included in the £7.2m of dividends.
Yorkshire Water is also engaged in sleight of hands. Since 2010, it has paid £1.2bn in dividends and claims to have stopped paying dividends from 2017-18. However, page 137 of its 2022-23 financial report states that the company paid £62.3m “dividends” to its parent company. Its 2021-22 accounts (page 99) state that “the Board of Yorkshire Water has approved the payment of £52.6m in dividends.”
… [article continues discussing Water companies’ financial obfuscation.]
Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader who was banned from standing as a candidate for the party earlier this year, has taken an almighty swipe at Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, after it was confirmed that the pair would not look to implement a wealth tax if elected into office.
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Keir Starmer also confirmed last month that would retain the two-child benefit limit – despite growing calls from poverty campaigners for the cap to be abandoned. The controversial stance has divided politicians within the Labour Party.
It’s another questionable policy u-turn from Starmer, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by Jeremy Corbyn. The two-time Prime Ministerial candidate ripped into Sir Keir, saying that a wealth tax could easily fund an extension to the two-child cap.
Corbyn also urged his successor to ‘side with those in need’:
“With the money raised from a 1-2% wealth tax on assets over £10 million, we could afford to scrap the two-child benefit cap SEVENTEEN times over. Politics is about choices — and we should be on the side of those in need, not those with greed.” | Jeremy Corbyn
