Almost a week has now gone by since last week’s local elections in Sandwell – plenty of time for the dust to settle and everyone to gather their thoughts.
Of course, I have to be upfront about how pleased I am with the results – my own re-election in Soho & Victoria and, more widely, the clean sweep for my party which saw Labour win every one of the 24 seats up for grabs.
The scale of this victory — unprecedented in Sandwell’s history going back almost four decades – means Labour now has 68 of the 72 seats on the council.
This is no time, though, for gloating.
I have to be aware of a couple of factors which will give even the most partisan of political supporters pause for thought.
First, turn-out in the elections was low. Secondly, I and my fellow Labour councillors must continue to bear in mind that we represent not just the people who voted for us but everyone in our wards. That’s the nature of our democracy.
It’s because of this that I’m planning to strengthen the way the council’s scrutiny set-up works. This is the bit of the council which allows backbench councillors to examine what the council is doing, criticise it if they feel that’s what’s needed and make recommendations to improve things.
As far as I’m concerned, this is essential if the council is to realise its ambition to become excellent.
I believe that in recent years we have set out our vision to achieve that — and are well on our way to getting there, despite the multi-million pounds cuts in cash support the council has been faced with.
Not everything is perfect, of course, but the council’s priority remains: to protect basic council services that the people of Sandwell rely upon.
This will become increasingly hard in the face of further cuts we face in coming years, but I’m determined the basics will stay in place.
For me, that means things like cleaner streets, sorting out potholes and continuing the council’s efforts to give Sandwell’s young people a better deal (better safeguarding, better exam results, better prospects for the future) and to look after our older people who need care.
We’re well on the way to keeping our promises on new swimming pools for West Bromwich and Tipton, and we’re also now looking at a new swimming centre for Smethwick.
It’s these bread and butter things that I think the people of Sandwell want – and that the council has to concentrate on.
I like to think I’m a realistic leader of the council. We need to keep our feet on the ground – and that’s what we’ll be doing.
I am delighted to see such an overwhelming and positive labour vote from the people of Sandwell. However, I would caution both our Leader & his party colleagues that this was not just a positive labour vote but an anti-cuts and austerity vote as well both of which the Council have rushed through with surprising speed and alacrity given which side they sit on of the political fence. Also, if the Leader and colleagues really believe the problems he mentions are the most important ones to the people of Sandwell, then they are mistaken. I would suggest they get out on the streets and actually engage with people rather than make assumptions as this is not the message that me and other activists are receiving from the borough. The danger is that with such overwhelming control the Labour Party locally will become complacent as it has in Smethwick in the St Paul’s Ward where the local representatives act with such arrogance and disdain to people that want to assist politically locally, it is a wonder anyone wants to help. I would also suggest you take a look at what happened in Barking and do not make the mistake of thinking people will always be there after you’ve treated them with disdain as that is what led to the rise of the BNP in that area.
Your quite right, but I think you will find that my fellow Councillors are very in touch with local people.
Please could you advise if my response to this left a little over a week or go was deleted without your response? If it was, is there any particular reason? Thanks.
Yes Alan it was sorry. I have had a problem with spam so deleted it by mistake.
Thanks for the response Darren. To be fair here me & my wife have tried on many ocassions to assist the local Labour Party in St Paul’s, Smethwick but have met with a brick wall and a certain degree of arrogance. This was frustrating for Val as she had been extremely active in Dagenham where she used toi live and hardly created a good political image for Sandwell. In my case it drove me to join another party (not the blue or orange ones!) which is ultimately quite sad. That was why I was touching on the subject of not necessarily listening to the electorate – some I have spoken to feel the local Labour Party is a bit of a closed shop?
Alan all I can say is that I am sorry the Party in your area, have made you and your wife feel like its a closed shop. It’s an active branch. But I do think you may have a point based on the previous councillors not fully engaged with all of the community in the area. The Party and branch have changed 2 of the Councillors and I hope things improve. It’s very important to me that local people feel that they have good representation from their local Councillors even if they don’t vote Labour.