Southwark’s Labour Council fended off what was styled as a ‘No Confidence Vote’ by opposition councillors this week.
In a tense and late meeting on Wednesday February 26, Liberal Democrat councillors failed to oust Labour Leader Councillor Kieron Williams and Cabinet member for Finance Councillor Stephanie Cryan, the first time in fifteen years since such an attempt had been made.
The majority-led Labour council amended a backbench motion before a debate could commence. Opposition councillors could be heard openly heckling them as ‘disgraceful’ and ‘shameful’.
The meeting came off the back of a report last year by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) which identified ‘serious failings’ in the borough’s council homes, especially concerning their fire safety. According to the RSH, only half of council homes in Southwark are said to have smoke alarms.
Anxiety has also been expressed by opposition councillors about the volume of complaints the Housing Ombudsman has received, with Southwark Borough being the third highest in the UK for complaints last year.
Councillor Victor Chamberlain, Leader of the Opposition, urged Labour colleagues to join him in challenging an administration he accused of “wasting millions” whilst “failing tenants”.
He added: “There are members who will vote to water down this motion, delay real change. Let me tell you this – you would be gaslighting your residents.”
Labour Cabinet Member for Council Homes Sarah King responded to the charges, expressing regret over a “crisis” she accepted Southwark’s housing was in.
However, she made clear the council’s view that a decade of Conservative- and initially Liberal Democrat-led austerity policy had created a context that had “starved us of our income” and caused “outright costs to spiral out of control”.
Last year, the Institute for Fiscal Studies showed that councils across England were set to be 9% worse off in real terms (18% per person) compared to the start of the 2010s after cuts.
They noted that spending increases since 2019 had only offset “part of the overall cuts seen in the 2010s” which they said “fell hardest on poorer areas”.
Councillor Chamberlain said austerity could not be used as an excuse in this case, stating the funds from the ‘ring-fenced’ Housing Revenue Account should have prioritised fire safety measures.
After the meeting, he said: “Shutting down debate and refusing to take any democratic accountability for our repeated housing scandals is nothing short of Trump-like.”
“By closing ranks to protect their own, unfortunately Labour once again proved that they will always put party before people.”
In response, the Labour Council told The Londoners: “Council Assembly this week voted to bring forward a good landlord plan, putting our tenants in the driving seat to improve the council’s housing department and investing £250 million in upgrading our residents’ homes over the next three years.
“The Liberal Democrats voted against this plan. The backbench motion tabled this week was not intended for open and detailed discussion of the housing service but was instead a public stunt designed as a social media moment by the opposition.”
Southwark Labour added that a debate, if it had gone ahead, could have extended to 1am at the expense of councillors with “caring responsibilities, who are older or have health issues.”
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons, Christine Matthews. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
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