Lambeth’s Tories and Lib Dems exposed

Labour Councillors ripping up the Lib Dem / Tory parking contract

They made a mess running the council together, and now they’re making a mess of opposition too!

Lambeth’s right-wing Tories and Liberal Democrats made a secret pact before the 2002 council elections, but they didn’t tell the voters about it. They managed to snatch power in those elections, forming a right-wing coalition that marked the start of four years of waste and incompetence that’s left Lambeth scarred.

During their four years in charge, the Tories and Lib Dems:
• Forced council tax up 38% - the biggest tax hike in Lambeth’s history
• Wasted £28 million on luxurious new riverside offices
• Saw services crumble as independent inspectors slammed them as one of the two worst councils in London
• Went soft on crime, with £3 million stolen in a massive housing fraud scandal and covered up when one of their own councillors was caught fiddling housing benefit
• Left hundreds of children without a local school place while they turned down millions of pounds of Government money to build new schools

No wonder Lambeth’s voters kicked the Tories and Lib Dems out as soon as they had the chance. In 2006 residents backed Labour by a landslide as the Lib Dems faced meltdown across the Borough.

But the Tories and Lib Dems don’t seem to have learnt much from their hammering at the polls. They’re now working together in opposition just like they worked together in power – and making just as big a mess of things! Here’s what they’ve been up to since they lost power in May:

• Opposed Labour’s plans to save an old school building for community sports use
• Used council procedures to try and block Labour’s plans to get a new secondary school built in the centre of the Borough
• Campaigned against Labour’s bid for £200 million Government money to invest in better housing
• Attacked Labour for reversing Lib Dem / Tory plans to close down Clapham leisure centre
• Refused to back Labour’s plans to bring back fair parking by scrapping the Lib Dem profit incentives that led to overzealous and unfair ticketing.

Even in opposition, the Lib Dems and Tories are STILL opposing Labour investment in schools, housing and youth and leisure services, and they’re STILL defending unfair parking enforcement. But perhaps that’s not surprising given that the new Lib Dem leader is known as “Mr 38%” at the town hall because, as the council’s former finance boss, he was the man responsible for the tax hikes and waste that led to his party’s defeat in the first place!

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