Barnet Labour leader Alison Moore resigns

The Barnet Times reports that Leader of the Labour group on Barnet Council, Alison Moore has resigned and is standing down. For many people in Barnet this will be considered long overdue. Anyone who has ever attended a council debate and seen Moore in action will be surprised that she has lasted so long. On many occasions a more effetcive leader could have skewered the various Tory leaders. As a campaigner she has been singularly uninspiring and has alienated many from the Labour party. Her relationship with local progressive campaigners and influential trades unionists has also been 'difficult'. Perhaps her greatest failure was to hold the then Tory Leader of Barnet Council Mike Freer to account for the Icelandic bank fiasco. Freer was extremely vulnerable and many Tories were deeply unhappy with his actions, effectively gambling on the markets with taxpayers money. Moores strategy in the council chamber forced the Tories to back him. A more effective leader would have pushed for a full public enquiry into the scandal, but Moores strategy effectively let Freer off the hook.

On many other occasions, the strategy of the Labour group was also naive and played into Tory hands. Backing the outsourcing of Your Choice Barnet was the last straw for many. We simply hope that Labour choose a leader capable of mounting sensible and effective opposition.