26 July (Part 2) - Democracy in Bexley
One might argue that
Council Motions are not the most interesting things to report at the best of times but
when one is not even sure what the Motion is, possibly even more so.
This situation came about because Cabinet Member Richard Diment proposed a Motion
which may have been relevant when drafted three years ago but not any more; so he produced a
new one which the opposition had not seen before. They asked for 20 minutes to
consider it and maybe come up with an Amendment.
The Labour Councillors were given 15 minutes but that was insufficient to draft a reasoned
Amendment and without being allowed to prepare for debate they decided
to opt out completely.
They were not the only people to be disenfranchised. Unless they attended the
meeting in person no member of the public has been allowed to see the revised
Motion. Conservative Councillors are not allowed to offer resistance to the
party line in Bexley so what follows is more the bleating of sheep than an exchange of ideas.
Councillor Diment began with the easy job of cataloguing Mayor Khan’s many
failings one of which is the high rate of crime in London. Even in Bexley which
has less crime than most there is an average of 45 reported every day. 65 for
every 1,000 of the population each year. A total of 16,299 crimes. A third
involved violence, a fifth were theft and 911 were drug related. Unfortunately
many go unreported because of the police’s reputation for doing nothing.
There are only 161 PCs serving all of Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham and Bexley
is the poor relation given its low crime levels. The Metropolitan Police was
the only force in the entire country not to have taken advantage of the extra
funding provided by Government in 2022/23. The numbers have fallen further since
then and last month the Labour Chancellor squeezed the finances even more.
Councillor Howard Jackson told how anti-social
behaviour affects Barnehurst. Up to 200 people with weapons held a party and
taunted the police who were at first massively outnumbered. Reinforcements with
dogs and riot gear were eventually able to make arrests. Interesting, but I am
not sure how that advances the Motion. Once the police saw the scale of the
problem they dealt with it. Councillor Jackson thought they should have turned
up mob handed as soon as they heard about the party.
Councillor Chris Taylor (Crook Log) said that the Labour Group was a disgrace for not
debating the issue and come next May they deserve to be “wiped out by a sea of
blue”. But what shade of blue?
Councillor Rags Sandhu (Bexleyheath) said that the police numbers in Bexleyheath are reduced
to a skeleton by the requirements of Central London. It was likely he was
referring to Khan encouraging his regular Jew-hating marches.
Rags specifically said more than once that Khan does not care about Bexley.
Councillor Cameron Smith (St. Mary’s & St.
James) - who used to work in County Hall - said that Khan had
promised a change to police numbers if ever there was a Labour Government and he
had delivered on it. He wondered how the Labour Group would have defended the
reductions if they had not run away.
Cabinet Member Brian Bishop summed up. “When officers are deployed elsewhere they are not here!” The Met was the only
force to not increase officer numbers when given the funding. etc. Daniel
Francis MP for Bexleyheath and Crayford has trotted out the official Labour line
that Bexleyheath town centre will get more police but there are none available
thanks to Sadiq Khan. 1,089 fewer London officers than what were funded.
Obviously the Motion was passed unopposed.