Clapham Town Labour

Last week Boris Johnson took time off from lobbying Brussels on behalf of those on the margins of society – bankers and hedge funds – to spend a bit of time at the Tory conference.

And what a week he had. Disagreeing with Cameron on Europe, delivering one of those incomprehensible speeches that make your head hurt and putting in an entry for farcical interview of the year on Newsnight. It is hardly surprising that our mayor apparently received a fruity text from someone in Cameron’s inner circle that gave him some colourful advice on where he might want to put his opinions.

But beneath the fun of the Boris carnival, there was an incredibly serious announcement that could have ramifications for everyone in Clapham – sweeping transport cuts of up to £5 billion in the next three years. To be fair, Boris didn’t try and hide this, indeed he made a virtue of it, but what he didn’t do was outline real substantive ways in which this budget pole axing is going to be achieved.  He also didn’t feel the need to mention that he has already had a bonfire of transport commitments in the past year that has reduced the scope and employment capabilities of London transport to the tune of nearly £3.6 billion.

Apparently these new savings are going to come out of that mystical, catch all political solution of efficiency savings – as if restricting the number of pens employees are allowed to have on their desk is somehow going to conjure up a pile of fat readies.  The details that have crept out are scant, a pay freeze on some employees and cuts to IT and human resources departments.  Whether or not these figures will add up without the need for yet more sweeping cuts to transport infrastructure – despite Boris’ promises to the contrary – we will have to see, especially as this  mayor has a bit of a problem when it comes to marrying financial issues with the truth.

Earlier this year he went back on a pledge to fund rape support centres, shaving £500,000 off their promised budget, and this week reversed his policy on the low emission zone, blaming Europe, as if no one in the Mayor’s office had thought to have a bit of look at the law before Boris opened his substantial mouth on the subject.

What Boris also didn’t outline was the very real human cost of making these kind of cuts.  If programmes are cancelled, services slashed and departments binned it means less or no work for engineers, technicians, labourers, clerks, building firms, the haulage industry, as well as the IT and human resources employees who Boris already has his eyes on. There is a wave of unemployment that hits hard working people – and their families - in both the public and private sector. And perversely it also results in more costs for us, the taxpayer, as we have to shell out more unemployment benefits and pick up the inevitable costs of social breakdown, such as crime.

This is not to say Labour is blind to the tough financial problems facing the country. But we have to be clear and honest with everyone about where the axe is going to fall and who is going to be underneath it. It wasn’t easy for the Chancellor to freeze the pay of top level government employees this week, but at least he is asking people on big incomes – judges, senior civil servants – to take a bit less next year rather than hitting ordinary people. As we have proven in Lambeth, where we have turned a Liberal/Tory deficit into a surplus, it is possible to sort financial problems out without destroying public services – but only if you’re upfront and talk to people on the ground.

So if and when the Tories turn up on your doorstep in Clapham, how about asking them exactly what they want to cut and how many people will be getting their P45s as a result? You will almost certainly get a bit of a blank expression, because Lambeth Tories like all Tories don’t seem to get the real, practical cost of what they are proposing.