Labour Matters

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Over 500 Westminster City Council staff “vulnerable” to redundancy

520 Westminster City Council staff have been told that they are 'vulnerable' to redundancy, according to a letter sent to all Council staff by Council Chief Executive, Mike More. The letter warns staff that "up to 300 staff" will be made redundant "over the next year". The Council has earmaked £10 million to pay the redundancy costs. Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Labour Group, said: "This is very bad news for Council staff and Westminster residents. Fewer staff mean worse services. And the £10 million cost of this massive redundancy package is huge bill for Westminster residents to pay." "Once again, Westminster residents and Council staff are paying the price of the Conservatives' reckless £17 million investment in now-failed Icelandic Banks...

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PM: Labour candidates will uphold the highest standards of integrity

Gordon Brown MP, Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party, today pledged Labour candidates to the highest standards of integrity, accountability, and prudence with public money. 100 of Labour's young candidates and activists joined Gordon Brown at Labour HQ to sign up to an eight point promise that they will put the public's interest first. Gordon Brown said: "The first thing we've got to do is to clean up politics once and for all. We've got to make sure that people see that their Members of Parliament and those who seek to represent them are acting in the public interest and not in their self interest. "We've got to make sure that people see that their politicians are in it not for what they can get, but for what they can give. That's why today we promise that we will uphold the highest standards of integrity, we promise that there will be transparency in everything we do, we promise that we will report to our constituents and do so as regularly as possible...

Asides: what others are saying

George Osborne’s expenses being investigated by sleaze watchdog
Shadow chancellor George Osborne is being investigated by the sleaze watchdog over his expenses, says Sky News. The complaint to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner came from the chairman of the Labour Party in Mr Osborne's Tatton constituency, Laurie Burton. In a letter to Mr Burton confirming that he will investigate the complaint, John Lyon says: "In essence, your complaint is that between 2001 and 2003 Mr Osborne wrongly identified his main home for the purposes of his claims against the Additional Costs Allowance, and that from 2003 Mr Osborne claimed for mortgage payments that were not necessarily incurred contray to the rules of the house." Paul Waugh's blog has the text of the complaint.
Labour’s Chris Ostrowski seeks meeting with Norfolk’s top cop
Chris Ostrowski, Labour's candidate in the Norwich North by-election, has written to Norfolk's Chief Constable, Ian McPherson, seeking a meeting to "sort out the issue of anti-social behaviour in our streets and parks". Labour's Chris Ostrowski said: "Today I have written to the Chief Constable of Norfolk Constabulary to ask for a meeting with him or a senior officer over the vital issue of crime and anti-social behaviour in Norwich. "Crime has fallen 22% in the past year, which is a terrific achievement for the police, but people are telling me that more must be done to sort out the issue of anti-social behaviour in our streets and parks, and I will work closely with the police to make sure this happens." Read the full article.
PM: Labour probably saved up to 500,000 jobs the Tories would have lost
Gordon Brown, in an interview for the Times today, warned that we're not yet out of recession but voters will soon see that Labour has managed the recession well. "That means we will return to growth more quickly and we will probably have saved up to 500,000 jobs that would otherwise have been lost. People will see we have made a difference to the path of the recession." But it takes time for these actions to have an impact. "I understand why people in June, when voting, knew we had taken measures, but they had not seen the results. It takes time for these results to come though as the economy starts to return to growth again and as employment opportunities become available." He contrasted Labour's action with Cameron's Conservatives, saying that they had: "No strategy for the recession...for growth...for new jobs. They had no plan to deal with the recession, not one genuine plan for taking us out. All other countries started to work on the same line as Britain, and the Conservatives were left isolated — just as they are isolated on Europe." Read the full article.
Cameron’s Conservatives would cut from day one of a Tory government
Liam Byrne MP, commenting on his own blog, said today: You may have seen in the news today that David Cameron's Conservatives would make cuts to public services from day one of a Tory government. Whatever he says about public services, it's now clear that David Cameron can’t resist the Tory instinct for cuts to public services. The Tories are obviously hoping to hide the details of the cuts until after a general election but the fact is that they would cut our schools and police to pay for tax breaks – starting with £200,000 for Britain's 3000 richest estates. However warmly he talks about schools and hospitals there is no doubt David Cameron would invest less. He has said very clearly that "a Conservative government would spend less than Labour" and "some areas would be cut". This year alone he would cut £5 billion from public services – that's equivalent to a cutting 3,500 police immediately. Read the full article.
Labour launches “Tory cuts” attack ad
Labour has produced an attack ad highlighting the Conservative's intention to make deep cuts in public services. The ad continues the "Mr 10%" theme and uses David Cameron's own words to push the message home. Yesterday the Conservatives released an attack ad of their own, challenging Gordon Brown's "lies".