An Open Letter from the Croydon Conservative Leadership to Cllr Hamida Ali, Labour Leader of Croydon Council.
Dear Cllr. Ali
An Open Letter
Yesterday afternoon the most senior finance officer in the Council published a devastating report condemning your leadership, and that of your predecessor.
The ‘Section 114’ report officially declares Croydon as bankrupt.
You served in Cllr. Tony Newman’s Cabinet for many years. You were one of his most vocal supporters. You voted for every single one of Labour’s damaging budgets, and publicly advocated for the choices that have led Croydon to be officially declared bankrupt.
Whilst Cllrs. Newman and Hall resigned and Cllr. Butler was sacked from their respective Cabinet positions, many residents feel that this is not sufficient justice given they have bankrupted the Council.
Cllr. Newman remains a Labour Councillor. He was the Leader who signed off on all of the devastating policies that have bankrupted our borough. We, therefore, call on you to withdraw the Labour Whip and demand his resignation.
We further call on Cllr Newman to do the honourable thing and resign as a Councillor.
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. We, therefore, call on you to withdraw the Labour Whip and demand his resignation.
We further call on Cllr. Hall to do the honourable thing and resign as a Councillor.
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. We, therefore, call on you to withdraw the Labour Whip and demand her resignation.
We further call on Cllr. Butler to do the honourable thing and resign as a Councillor.
These three Councillors should have no place remaining on Croydon Council. They have disgraced themselves, wrecked the Council’s finances and brought the borough into disrepute.
Sadly, they are not alone in the negligence of their basic duties.
Cllr. Sean Fitzsimons is the Labour Lead for Scrutiny. It is his job to analyse, interrogate and assess all the Labour Council’s policies to ensure that they are fit for purpose and offer best value for local residents. He has fundamentally failed in this essential duty. The Grant Thornton ‘Report in the Public Interest’ says the ‘Scrutiny and Overview Committee need to show greater rigour in challenging underlying assumptions’ and that ‘the level of scrutiny and challenge...in respect of significant expenditure was not good enough in terms of challenging decisions that were high risk in the context of the Council’s financial position’.
We, therefore, call on you to remove Cllr. Fitzsimons from the position of ‘Chair of Scrutiny’.
The finances and the reputation of our great borough is in tatters.
Our residents, and more often than not the most vulnerable, will be the ones that pay the price for the poor decisions made by you and your colleagues.
It will take decades to repair the damage that has been inflicted on Croydon. Those responsible should pay the price.
Yours sincerely,
Cllr Jason Perry, Leader of Croydon’s Conservative Councillors
Cllr Lynne Hale, Deputy Conservative Leader
Cllr Jason Cummings, Deputy Conservative Leader
