Madam Mayor as we debate this failed administration’s plans on the strategic review of companies, we must ask ourselves a more fundamental question. Why did the Labour get us into this financial mess and bankruptcy? The answer is simple. Ideology. Labour pursued a failed, outdated, left-wing ideology which believed that they know best and that they can tax and spend all our money as if it is their own. Let me illustrate with 3 clear examples how this flawed ideology led us to this mess.
First there was Westfield. A scheme conceived by a Conservative Council supported by a Conservative Mayor and MP, where working in partnership with the private sector we would deliver the homes jobs and regeneration Croydon desperately required. All Labour had to do in 2014 was to press ahead with the agreed scheme. But no, their ideology got in the way. They simply did not believe in the power of the private sector to deliver in partnership with the Council, and decided that they had to be in control. So they tried to change the scheme leading to delays and ultimately cancellation. Despite their warm words the Labour party were always ideologically opposed to the Westfield. And in the process the Council has lost 100s of millions of pounds in additional council tax and business rates – revenue which would certainly have ensured our financial sustainability.
Then there is the infamous Brick by Brick. Let me remined you of the real reason why this failed company was set up. It was because Labour were ideologically opposed to Right to Buy – a scheme that has allowed thousands of people to get onto the property ladder, creating the thriving property-owning democracy that we all love. But Labour have always hated the concept of Right to Buy, believing that all housing must be owned by the State. This led Croydon Labour to create the complex structures around Brick by Brick, described by one of their own as spaghetti junction, which as we have seen in the PwC report has contributed significantly to the Council’s bankruptcy. Once again their flawed ideology was to blame.
And finally, from the days of Gordon Brown, Labour has always ideologically believed that taxpayers money is their own, and they can borrow and spend as they please, without caring about the consequences. Just like Gordon Brown crashed the economy in 2008, Croydon Labour borrowed heavily and invested recklessly in a failing hotel and failing shopping centre, crashing the Council’s finances. For years to come residents will have to pay the price through cuts in vital services, including Purley Pool as we heard earlier this evening.
And so Madam Mayor we see that (i) an refusal to work with the private sector, (ii) a hatred of right to buy, and (iii) a cavalier attitude towards borrowing and spending public money has all led to Croydon’s financial collapse.
Madam Mayor while we may debate the future of Brick by Brick and other companies Labour created, they only way for Croydon to truly recover, is to put an end to this failed Labour ideology that has dominated policy. And that can only happen if we vote in a Conservative Council in in 2022, to deliver sound financial management, and working with our private and voluntary sector partners to deliver high quality public services our residents deserve.
I oppose these recommendations to Council.
