Has austerity worked for the London Borough of Barnet

Remember this?

There may not be a general election before the 31st October, but there will almost certainly be one before the end of the year. When you mark the 'X' in the box, you really need to consider many factors. We've had over 9 years of Conservative lead government, they have a record to be judged against. My interest in politics has always primarily been from a local perspective. I've been asked a couple of times whether I've ever considered becoming an MP.  I can think of few things I'd less rather do. I don't know if we are just blessed in the Borough of Barnet with particularly rubbish MP's but the total detatchment of them appals me. Our local MP in Mill Hill is Matthew Offord. He has a bog standard website. His lack of engagement is demonstrated by the Articles tab on this site.  It is now mid September, an election looms, but his last entry was in May, on of only two published this year. You may say "MP's are busy". He's just come back from a long, paid, holiday and he's got another break of five weeks coming up. His news page simply seems to contain a list of stunts and a bunch of initiatives unrelated to his constitiuency. 

I've not seen Mr Offord since he turned on the Menorah lights in Mill Hill Broadway, in December last year. He is like the invisible man, except when there is a general election. As we are having an election and as him and his government have a record, every voter should consider what they have achieved in our locality. Back in 2010, David Cameron came to power and ushered in the age of austerity. I disagreed with many on the left. I recognised the need for austerity. Public finances were in a mess, following the global meltdown of financial markets. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying or doesn't understand public finances. Cameron announced that we are all in it together. A period of serious slashing of public services followed. Cameron announced "we're all in it together". But the question was were we? Who really paid for austerity? From a Barnet perspective has the way the Conservatives implemented austerity policies worked for ordinary people. Lets consider the evidience. What areas of public finances were slashed.

1. Police budgets. There are 20,000 less police than there were when David Cameron walked into no 10. Not only that, tens of thousands of lower paid support staff were cut, leaving highly trained and highly paid police officers having to do menial tasks such as photocopying and filing of data. So how has this worked out? Mill Hill has become one of the most burgled towns in the UK. Only yesterday there was a report of a broad daylight mugging in Mill Hill Broadway of an elderly gent.  Last year Matthew Offord held a public meeting in Mill Hill to discuss local fears following a murder in the Broadway. He dragged in the local police chief and they tried to persuade us that "Mill Hill is relatively safe". Sadly for Mr Offord, he was bombarded with people telling how they had been the victims of violent robberies. A serving police officer explained from the floor how Mr Offords government had decimated staff morale. It is clear that austerity hasn't worked for Barnet in terms of public safety.

2. Council budgets. Barnet Council has had huge amounts of cash taken away from it by central government. When you see potholes in roads, missed rubbish collections, broken street furniture and general urban decay, this is the cost of austerity. What you may not see is the cuts to social care. The little old ladies who only get 15 minutes a day with a carer. You don't see the strains on mental health care. You may find that you are far more likely to interact with a council contractor, but this is usually because they are issuing you with a parking ticket. If you have to use a council car park, you most certainly will have felt the cost of austerity.

3. NHS cuts. If, like me, you have had cause to visit A&E in the last year, you will know that it takes rather a long time to get seen in Barnet General hospital. My wife broke her arm and dislocated her shoulder on a dog walk in October. We went to A&E at 11pm. By 1am, she'd had an X-ray that confirmed the break. She was sent home, in agony, with pain killers as no one who could interpret the X-Ray would be around until 9am. When they saw the damage she was called in and immediately operated on. That is the real face of austerity in Barnet.

4. High Streets. Matthew Offord famously said that he'd make Mill Hill Broadway vibrant again. He said it would become the type of high street where "people would come to open independent cheese shops". Sadly in the last year, we've seen more business closures than ever, more empty shops and more boarded up shop fronts. After none years, we still have no cheese shop. We've lost our butcher, we've lost Woolworths, we've lost most of our banks. We've even lost our Chinese acupuncture centre.  Mill Hill Broadway is hanging on, but under austerity we now see people begging by cashpoints, as litter blows past. It is really quite depressing. It is the face of austerity.

5. Air quality. Everyone knows that the air quality in many parts of the Borough of Barnet is appalling. What has Matthew Offord, Mike Freer and Theresa Villiers done about it? Nothing. They oppose the Mayor of London's low emission zone. A scrappage scheme to encourage a shift to electric cars would boost the motor trade and the economy, but as Barnet Council is only installing 50 charging points, many are wary of being left high and dry. Austerity and cuts ensure the air we breath is polluted. That is criminal, especially for our children.

6. School budgets. I am the chair of a charity that raises funds for one of our best local schools. I am at the coalface of understanding just how badly our schools are suffering. Curriculum are being cut and budgets can't be balanced. Sadly I can't share the contents of some of the emails I've been sent this week, but the situation is almost apocalyptic for many good schools. Schools have no choice but to make pupils suffer from a poorer education. Anyone who thinks that cutting education is the way to build a prosperous nation is quite frankly insane. But that is what the Conservsative governments austerity policies are doing. That is what is happening in the Borough of Barnet.

7. Transport. Do you ever take the tube or use the Thameslink services in Mill Hill? TFL is controlled by the Mayor of London, which gives the government a fig leaf. Sadiq Khan has not covered himself in glory and has proven most ineffectual, but the root cause is the fact that central government has no transport policy. Rather than have an overall vision to increase the UK's prosperity by investing in an integrated transport plan, the Conservatives pit everything against everything else. Schemes effectively have to bid and prove that they meet narrow criteria. There is no overall planning.  Austerity has ensured that the government have put small schemes that will make a huge difference on the back burner, whilst promoting mega schemes that they hope will make them look good. Ultimately, these schemes are then pruned back. A typical example is Thameslink. A huge investment was made in upgrading the railway, but they didn't bother to make step free access part of the scheme. So whilst we now have far more trains than ever from Mill Hill on Thameslink, if you are in a wheelchair, you can't use them. Don't be fooled, this paring down of schemes is all part of austerity. 

The evidence is all around to be seen. Austerity has failed in Barnet. When the election comes, Matthew Offord, Mike Freer and Theresa Villiers will be keen to sweep all of this under the carpet. Don't let them get away with it. This will be the most rabid election in history. Please try and be civil and stick to the issues that really matter to us all. The issues that will still be here in five years, when the dust from Brexit has long settled.