10 Questions to unravel the conundrum that is One Barnet

The truth about just how badly the people of the London Borough of Barnet have been let down by our local politicians is exposed by Mr Reasonable in this very revealing blog - http://reasonablenewbarnet.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/so-how-much-is-this-capita-contract.html - Please read it if you care about our Borough.

There are many questions thrown up by the whole process. The Barnet bloggers sent a whole stack of joint emails to the Councillors as the process was going through. All were ignored. A Tory Councillor recently said to me "Oh, it's ok for you, speaking with perfect hindsight" I asked if they'd read the emails we'd sent them. "No". Well maybe you damn well should have.

The main question I have is for the councillors on both parties who simply let this happen. I have five questions for the councillors of each party. I will donate £20 to a charity of their choice for every Barnet Councillor who responds to the 5 questions for their party and allows their answers to be published.

For the Conservative Party.

1. Why did you never insist on proper scrutiny of the costs of One Barnet?
2. Why did you never raise questions about the way the process was administered in committees?
3. Did you read the emails from bloggers asking about the process and if you did, why didn't you act accordingly?
4. If you care about good value for taxpayers money, why did you not insist the leadership did a public sector comparator as recommend by APSE?
5. Who do you ythink was driving the One Barnet project and why were they so keen to see it go through with no public debate?


For the Labour Party.

1. Why has Barnet Labour never once directly opposed the One Barnet contracts or said they would seek to terminate the contracts?
2. Why has Alison Moore, the Labour Leader never once said that she opposes outsourcing of public services?
3. Why has Labour cooperated fully with all outsourcing in Barnet and even said "there is no alternative" when it is clear the process has failed, such as in Your Choice Barnet, which required a multi million taxpayers baleout.
4. Why did Alison Moore walk at the front of all the BAPS organised marches opposing One Barnet, yet fail to ever once say Labour would stop/reverse the policy.
5. Why do you think anyone should vote Labour if you provide no credible alternative to the Conservatives, signing off the same budget cuts and agreeing with outsourcing?

I suspect my wallet will remain firmly closed.