Monday, December 04, 2006

Now Labour split over Unitary bids

The Chairman of Thetford Labour has made the case against Unitary in Norwich far better than I could have. In the EDP Letters on Saturday, he said that Breckland shouldn't go for Unitary because they couldn't exercise the powers they had currently had - let alone ask for more power and more money.

Maybe Thetford Labour should speak to Norwich Labour - because Norwich City Council has a much, much worse record (not least on recycling) than Breckland ... so can we assume that Labour believe that City Hall is as equally unable to command more powers?
The cartoon is from a campaign group, who claimed that Windsor & Maidenhead Council abused their power as a Unitary Council. County Councils and District Councils work as a check on each other - Unitary councils can abuse their power. Absolute power corrupts...


Anonymous said...

Hi Antony, Dennis Sully quite rightly spoke out against Breckland Council going for unitary because the services they provide in a lot of cases is very dire, just ask any resident on Thetford what they think! If Breckland was to be given unitary status it would be a nightmare for people, but thankfully there does not seem to be much chance of this happening. However, that does not mean that just because the Thetford Labour Party is opposed to unitary, every other Labour group is also opposed to it. I think Norwich could run a very succesful unitary council as it is a completely different area. Norwich Conservatives are opposed to unitary, but the Tories on Breckland are obviously in favour of it.

Terry Jermy
Secretary, Thetford Labour Party

Antony said...

Thanks for that Terry.

I totally agree that different constituency (or branch) parties may have different policies - the LibDems may even have different ones in different streets.

But the interesting point here is the general arguement - councils which don't perform well in providing services shouldn't get unitary. Norwich performs a whole lot worse than Breckland hence it shouldn't get it. Your arguement is bang on here Terry and hence Norwich Labour should take careful note.

Best wishes, Antony