24 July (Part 2) - What the Leader said
The first thing Councillor Oְ’Neill said when last addressing the Council
(19th July) was
to “thank Councillor Craske for his service over the years”. That’s it. That’s
all he got for God knows how many years of reputational damage to Bexley
Council. 15 at least if no deduction is made for the time he spent under the
watchful eye of the law. Whatever did happen to the £4 million he handed over to
the consultants Parsons Brinkerhoff who allowed its offices to be used to send me
abusive emails? (Checked from the server logs and the recorded IP address.)
From one sort of law breaking the Leader immediately transferred her attention
to another, the High Court challenge to Sadiq Khan’s dubious ULEZ consultation
practices. She hoped for a resolution by 28th July. She was “humbled” by the
number of her supporters and the stories of the dramatic impact on people’s lives. Council staff too.
Thanks to Teresa I too have been lauded during my weekly
session in a North London pub, although as yet it has not translated into free beer.
There is particular concern for
the impact of the £12·50 a day tax on care workers and “the Mayor does not get Outer London”.
There was initially no intention to run
the Superloop into the North of the
borough and definitely no DLR extension to Belvedere. The Mayor is failing to
pass on Government LIP funding grants to the boroughs. “He top slices it.”
(Local Implementation Plans.)
In contrast Bexley Council has secured the Welling Banking Hub.
Councilor Borella thanked the Deputy Leader David Leaf for his attendance at the
Erith Pride event where he very obviously “immensely enjoyed the refreshments and food”.
He went on to ask the Leader “to apologise for soaring interest rates” and for
Boris Johnson who damaged transport infrastructure in the borough by
cancelling the bridge (which would have opened nine years ago) and has as
his legacy the shared space scheme in Bexleyheath. “Where is the criticism for
the loss of the loop line rail services or the support for the Elizabeth line
introduced by a Labour Mayor?”
The Leader acknowledged her Deputy’s liking for food and thanked Councillor
Hinkley for her litter picking skills. She confirmed that it was Councilor
Cameron Smith who championed the cause of Abbey Wood to get a Superloop service.
She (correctly) said that it was Mayor Khan who was the latest Mayor to scrap a
river crossing but totally wrong to imply that Boris Johnson had not done the
same. “Please do not change history there because there is plenty there that I
will put right”. They simply cannot stop lying can they? Johnson cancelled Ken
Livingstone’s bridge because Teresa O’Neill told him to. She bragged loud and
long about it at the time. Am I the only one to remember the posters she
plastered all over her ward?
She said it was Boris who kick started the Elizabeth line which is certainly a
bit of history rewriting. It might never have come to Abbey Wood
if it
was not for the efforts of our Labour MP. There was no support from Bexley
Council at the time as it was still in its isolationist phase which eventually
lead to its flirtation with bankruptcy. The Leader admitted to never having ridden the Elizabeth line.
Deputy Leader David Leaf said that interest rates had soared to much the same level as Labour thought was normal whilst in office.
A Labour Councillor, for the second time in the same meeting, adopted a sarcastic
tone and this time earned a a suitable retort from the new Mayor. It was totally
unnecessary and marred an otherwise perfectly valid, indeed welcome comment.
Note: The Crossrail bill dates from 22 February 2005 and received Royal Assent two
months after Boris Johnson was elected. Ergo, it is Teresa O’Neill who is
rewriting history.