Conservative voter in Barnet? Please read this

This is an extract from a comment left by Daniel Hope, a Conservative who was a Barnet Councillor until 2006, on the Hendon Times website yesterday :-

As a Conservative I believe it is essential that there is real opposition and scrutiny of what goes on in the Town Hall.
Despite the huge allowances paid to the Labour Group to fund their 'Shadow' activities they have failed as an opposition and are not taken seriously as a party to run the Council. A couple of blogs that have cost no money to the taxpayer and are run by volunteers have done more to shine a light on the Town Hall shenanigans than anything the Labour Group have done.

The two blogs Mr Hope was referring to was this blog and "Not The Barnet Times" run by David Miller, like Mr Hope, also a Conservative. Mr Miller started his blog because he recognised the fact that the Conservatives running Barnet Council were not implementing Conservative Policies. The key moment that triggered it's inception was when the ruling Tory group started leaning on the Barnet Times to get rid of the blog I used to write for their website. Mr Miller thought that rather than acting like Conservatives, they were behaving more like Stalinists. Although Mr Miller and myself sit on other sides of the political spectrum, we both can see and have highlighted huge waste within Barnet Council. If Mr Miller and like minded Conservatives were running Barnet Council, I have no doubt at all that your Council tax would be lower today, your services would be better and that ridiculous policies such as the cuts to sheltered housing wardens would have never emerged. I would still disagree with much of what they did, but I doubt I'd even write a blog, because there wouldn't be stupid mistakes all of the time and they'd simply be implementing Tory policies, which had been voted for.

The trouble is that David Miller and like minded Conservatives aren't running the show. They have been pushed to the very margins of the Conservative Party in Barnet. It is a matter of public record that senior Barnet Conservatives, one of whom is running for parliament have even publicly insulted David Millers mother in an effort to push him out. Sadly for them, this has just made Mr Miller even more strident in his opposition. In December last year, a new Conservative Leader of Barnet Council took over. Lynne Hillan was the architect of the sheltered housing warden fiasco, which has cost the council tens of thousands of pounds in legal expenses. Lynne Hillan has a track record of failure on her CV. The company she used to run, Ashurst Direct Marketing Ltd went bust in 2006, leaving many creditors out of pocket. I've run a small business for many years. I know what it's like when someone owes you money and goes bust. I know how galling it is when you find out they've set up a new company and carried on as though nothing had happened. My parents ran a small business in Mill Hill repairing cars for 40 years. A dodgy businessman pulled that stunt on my parents in the 1960's and our family nearly went to the wall. I think it was no coincidence that my mum developed cancer and my father developed a stomach ulcer. Of course, the people who pull these stunts don't care. They think they are rather clever.

Mr Hope states that as a Conservative he believes that it is vital that there is real opposition and real scrutiny in Barnet council. With David Cameron running the Conservatives, it is most likely that the general election will result in a high turnout of Conservative voters. What will this mean for Barnet Council? Well it could mean a virtual wipeout of the opposition Lib Dems and Labour. What Mr Hope couldn't bring himself to say (unsurprisingly as he's a loyal Conservative) is that the Barnet Lib Dems have lead the way in both scrutiny and opposition. The debate to scrutinise the Icelandic Investment cock up was called by the Lib Dems. Both Wayne Casey and Monroe Palmer made mincemeat of the former leader of the Council in the debate. The only reason that the truth has emerged at all is through pressure from the Barnet Lib Dem councillors. Anyone who attended the debates will know this to be true. I'm standing for election to Barnet Council in May for the Lib Dems. Whatever your normal allegiance I urge you to consider this. The local Conservatives in Barnet have failed to deliver by every measure. They have shown themselves unable to manage the affairs of Council. Some of the Councillors who run the Barnet Cabinet are getting over £50,000 for doing what in effect is a "spare time job". Other Tory Councillors are getting £3,000 allowances for being chairmen of comittees that meet for less than 1 hour a year.

I urge you to consider these points when you decide how to vote in the Council elections in May.
I agree with Daniel Hope. I believe that proper Opposition and Scrutiny is required for a council to run smoothly. Whilst ideally I'd love to see that opposition and scrutiny coming from Barnet Conservatives to a ruling Lib Dem group, I can guarantee that if the Conservatives are the party in power, it is essential for the Lib Dems to have a strong presence. Barnet Conservatives have taken the Council finances, put their foot on the accelerator and are heading towards the edge of the cliff. There is only one way to stop this waste and incompetence and that is at the ballot box in May. In the long run you'll be doing the decent, sensible Conservatives such as David Miller locally a huge favour, if you send a strong message to the people who've brought financial ruin to the Boroughs finances.

Picture at top : A whelk Stall. To run one of these successfully, you need to spend less money, than you have coming in. Sadly these principles seem to be beyond the current Councillors running Barnet Council. Simples ?????