The Important questions for the Barnet Council elections in May - Number 4

Today is question no 4 in our series dedicated to looking at the important questions which face voters in Barnet as we approach the Council elections on May 6th.

Question No 4.
Respect for our war dead.
Of the many questions we have to ask ourselves as we decide who should run the council, maybe the most important is "What are our values?".  Her Majesties armed forces are staffed by volunteers. Men and women who are prepared to sacrifice their lives to protect their loved ones. For this risk how much does a squaddie in Afghanistan get paid? Less than the CEO of Barnet Council, Nick Walkley who pockets £200,000 a year. Less than his deputy Brian Reynolds who pockets £180,000 a year. Less than all of the executives who make up the management team at Barnet. Less than the "allowances" Councillor Lynne Hillan gets to do what a previous Leader of Barnet Council called "a part time job". Less than the allowances of any Barnet Cabinet member for their part time job. Less than the £60,000 a year that Mr Robeson, the Conservative Political officer for Barnet Council gets from the Barnet taxpayer, to advise Conservative Councillors to ignore their consciences and follow the Tory party line. I think you get the idea. Now you may say "fat cat bosses always get more than squaddies risking their lives in far off lands". Well actually no. In the aftermath of the second world war, Councillors were not paid for their services, they did it out of a sense of civic duty and the concept of "local authority paid political officers" was an alien concept in Great Britain, being seen as a Stalinist construct. In Barnet these servants of the public, who gave their time for free recognised the huge sacrifice of the local servicemen and women. They erected war memorials from the public purse around the Borough. Finding the cash for these was never a party political matter, it was just done because it was universally recognised as the right thing to do.

How times change. This blog recently reported how Craig Cooper, Commercial manager of Barnet Council (not even an elected officer), on a salary many times larger than any squaddie in Afghanistan, signed an order banning the addition of names of fallen servicemen, killed since World War II from the council owned war memorials on cost grounds. Council Leader Lynne Hillan was asked about this by the local press and she said "We are doing something else to commemerate them", whilst admitting she hadn't a clue what. In our house we call that being caught with your knickers round your ankles with the postman, pretending to look for a stamp.

This writer of this blog contacted the Leader of the Local Lib Dems, Jack Cohen and insisted that the Lib Dems take some action. Jack immediately proposed a budget amendment to set aside £2,000 (a tiny sum in the billion pound council budget) to cover this work. Jack said that he expected the local Conservatives to nick the idea and pass it in a fanfare of good publicity. In an act of spite, as it was a Lib Dem amendment they voted it down.

Question No 3.

Do you think that the Council should add the names of heroes who have fallen in action since the end of World War II to their local war memorial.

Barnet Conservatives.

No, at £2,000 per annum it costs far too much money.

Barnet Lib Dems.

Yes, and there is a budget amendment on public record to prove it.

Barnet Labour Party

The position of the Barnet Labour party on this issue is unclear.

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REMEMBER  - WHETHER THIS INSULT TO OUR BRAVE FALLEN SERVICEMEN CONTINUES IS DOWN TO HOW YOU VOTE ON MAY 6TH

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Other parties and independent candidates are welcome to leave comments outlining their position on this issue. Comments will only be deleted if off subject, racist, sexist or abusive. This is a debate we must have