I find myself chatting about political conferences, yet soon move on to the subject of just why people join political parties.
It doesn’t take long to spot that, although I am in a discussion with a young entrepreneur, they are a fan of Jeremy Corbyn.
Desperate not to pay “exorbitant” taxes, a healthy distrust in Big Government and with many other liberal views, I point out that they are, if they were to reflect for the briefest of moments, a natural Conservative.
Outrage: Jeremy Corbyn is their hero, whatever his faults.
Could “Prime Minister Jeremy Corbyn” be a reality?
A tingle traverses my spine at the very thought, but I owe it to start the analysis of what it would mean for us in Brighton and Hove.
Corbyn, a renowned “Brexiteer”, would surely not allow us to remain in the EU.
The next “given” is that Labour always overspend, bribing voters with their own money, and this, locally, would probably mean a drive by Labour to hike up council tax to levels most residents would not accept let alone afford.
The uncertainty that this would sadly create is that of a city in chaos: what businesses would invest under these circumstances?
Another concern is the Labour pledge to “insource” local council services.
Brighton and Hove council has been described by the Local Government Association as “dysfunctional” and to trust the majority of our vital public services to be delivered by the council would not, I would suggest, lead to the most “optimum of outcomes”. Rather, a disaster for our city.
In education, Labour has also stated that they “will require joined-up admissions policies across local schools, enabling councils to fulfil their responsibilities on child places”.
We know what this really means – faith, academy and free schools will be taken under council control.
For instance, the Portslade Aldridge Community Academy, now rated “good”, could even revert to being Portslade Community College and, I am guessing, that the new King’s School would not find support in a hard-left Labour council. Cardinal Newman beware!
Going forward, the real danger for Brighton and Hove is that young, natural Conservatives will ignore Labour’s potential to ruin our economy and vote for a hard-left Labour council.
Councillor Tony Janio is the leader of the opposition Conservative group on Brighton and Hove City Council.
Absolute rubbish scaremongering typical Condematives attitude.
The nasty party are getting scared. So scared they are copying Labour policies as the Overton Window shifts back to the centre ground
he isnt a renowned brexiteer, he voted against lots of them in the past but campaigned for remain
council tax is already being driven up, not by labour councillors currently (as they are already in power with a minority administration currently) but by national tory government cuts to funding making stealth local tax rises inevitable. These are already the highest level rises possible before Corbyn gets the keys to number 10
the majority of the public support education being kept public not private – acadamies, free schools and more under public control can only be beneficial for our children
labour aren’t hard left, stop peddling this uneducated lie
Corbyn may not be a ‘renowned Brexiteer’, but he is definitely eurosceptic, and has been for decades. He was also one of the 111 MP’s that voted to get an EU referendum on the books! That’s just fact!
See this link:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/oct/25/mp-voted-for-eu-referendum