‘Votes for change’ - Conservatives claim Labour Party has ‘given up’ with failure to field full set of Local Election candidates in Westminster

Published: 23 April 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM

THE Labour Party has put housing, road safety and the environment at the centre of its vision for a “fairer” Westminster.

Labour is hoping to make inroads in the Tory-dominated council on May 6, setting out a programme of “practical, sensible and affordable” pledges in its  manifesto that it says offers voters a clear alternative to what is effectively a one-party council.

It attacked the “the richest council in the country” for its response to the borough’s overcrowding crisis, overseeing cuts to front-line services and wasting millions of pounds on “commun­ications and spin”.

Labour hopes its vote for change message will help boost its showing in City Hall where it currently holds 11 of 60 seats. 

With an emphatic victory in December’s byelection in Queen’s Park still fresh in the memory, opposition leaders believe intense campaigning focused on Maida Vale and Little Venice in the north, and in Pimlico where Sally Bercow, the wife of the Speaker of the House of Commons is standing, will pay off.

The manifesto launch follows last week’s revelation that Labour will not be fielding a full set of candidates on polling day – the first time that has happened since 1965. 

This week, amid Conservative jeering that their rivals had “given up” on Westminster, it transpired an administrative mess-up was to blame for a situation which means residents in Hyde Park, Marylebone High Street and Knightsbridge and Belgravia will not be able to vote Labour. 

Nominees did not complete paperwork in time, because the Cities of London & Westminster Labour Party did not make the looming April 7 deadline clear enough when it sent out nomination papers to wards. 

It has sparked a war of words between the two parties, as well as causing friction with Labour’s London office ahead of the election.

Among the Labour promises:

• safer roads, with residents consulted about introducing 20mph speed limits;

• more affordable housing, earmarking Chelsea Barracks and North Wharf Road as potential sites;

• overhauling City Hall’s parking system, scrapping evening parking charges; 

• cracking down on waste, scrapping private health insurance for top officers, abolishing staff bonuses, and cancelling the annual civic dinner;

• increasing recycling and electric car charging points across the borough;

• founding a social care scrutiny committee to give older people a stronger say in their communities;

• using the boroughs CCTV stock for catching criminals rather than motorists.

The Conservatives launched their manifesto last week. Commenting on Labour leader Paul Dimoldenberg’s claims that his party’s decision to stand down in the seats was a tactic to unite the “anti-Tory vote, Conservative councillor Melvyn Caplan said it was “misleading”. 

He said: “Why did he claim this in the press? Either Councillor Dimoldenberg is intentionally misleading Westminster residents or the Labour Party is in such chaos that their leader doesn’t know what is going on”

Cllr Dimoldenberg said: “The Conservatives are running scared of defeat in Hyde Park and Marylebone High Street wards and one of their candidates looks very vulnerable in Knightsbridge and Belgravia. 

“For the first time ever so-called Conservatives strongholds are under threat and their candidates will have to run a campaign. No wonder the Conservatives are trying to divert attention from their own problems and engaging in dirty politics”

“The fact of the matter is that we had selected candidates for the three wards and were preparing nomination papers. 

“At the last moment the decision was taken to concentrate on completing nominations in the more winnable wards. Because these three wards were not winnable the candidates were stood down and no more action was taken on completing their papers.”