Four key councillors must all be held to account.
Labour Councillors Tony Newman, Simon Hall, Alison Butler and Paul Scott – known in local Labour circles as ‘The Gang of Four’ - have gone into hiding since resigning from their leadership positions in October last year.
In Autumn 2020 Croydon Council had to effectively declare bankruptcy. It was a result of a record-breaking £1.5 billion of debt or £15,000 borrowed every hour since Labour took control of the Council in 2014.
Each of the ‘Gang of Four’ is directly responsible for devising, approving or implementing the terrible political choices that have left our town’s finances in tatters:
- Cllr. Newman remains a Labour Councillor. He was the Leader who signed off on all of the devastating policies that have bankrupted our borough.
- Cllr. Hall remains a Labour Councillor. He was the Cabinet Member for Finance who devised and led the formulation of Labour’s disastrous financial policies.
- Cllr. Butler remains a Labour Councillor. She was the chief architect of Brick by Brick, Labour’s wholly owned loss-making development company which is not paying back its loans, interest or dividends - putting hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayer investment at risk.
- Cllr Paul Scott remains a Labour Councillor. He was the lead councillor devising Croydon’s terrible planning policies. Hand in hand with his wife, Alison Butler, he facilitated and approved hundreds of Brick by Brick applications, empowering this dodgy development company and deliberately ignoring the concerns of tens of thousands of local people.
All four are still Labour councillors and receiving public money. All four should have the Labour whip removed by Cllr Hamida Ali and should resign as Councillors. The national Labour Party has suspended Newman and Hall but still the Croydon Labour Council Leader, Cllr Ali, has taken no action.
Despite a series of damning reports revealing their complicity in destroying Croydon, they have thus far escaped any formal sanction. As backbenchers they cannot be summoned before the Council’s scrutiny committee. With no formal position, councillors are unable to question them about their role in approving deeply damaging local policies.
There has been no justice for our residents. There has been scant openness and accountability. There is no accountability to the electorate.
Cllr Jason Cummings, Deputy Leader of Croydon’s Conservative councillors, says:
“It is totally unacceptable that the four key Labour councillors responsible for destroying our borough’s finances have been allowed to hide on the backbenches, deliberately avoiding public scrutiny.
“Tony Newman may have been the Leader, and Simon Hall may have signed the cheques, but they did not act alone. Alison Butler and Paul Scott were heavily involved in the detail of the vast majority of the policy directions that caused the Council to be declared effectively bankrupt. The Labour Cabinet, including the current Council Leader Cllr Hamida Ali, backed every single decision, never once rebelling.
“The Gang of Four need to be held to account – anything less will be a betrayal of the promise all councillors make to serve our residents."
