Last night, Westminster Conservative Group Leader, Cllr Paul Swaddle, and the Conservative team condemned Labour's financial recklessness and set their record of failure straight, offering local people a Conservative alternative with a plan to deliver safe streets, a clean city and real value for money for Westminster residents.
Cllr Swaddle condemned Labour's decision to raid £19 million of emergency reserves to hold down council tax before May's elections, a move the Council's own officers warned cannot solve the underlying financial challenge, with council tax still projected to rise by up to 75% over the next four years. This follows a £27 million clean-up bill from the Geoffrey Osborne contract failure and a 45% pay rise awarded to Labour cabinet members within their first ten months in office.
You can read the facts behind Westminster Labour’s projected 75 per cent council tax hike here: www.westm.news/council-tax-facts.
This is in the backdrop of spiralling crime rates, declining street standards, weak enforcement on illegal short-term lets and dockless bikes, and record rough sleeping in Westminster. That is the reality of life under Labour.
But Cllr Swaddle presented a Conservative alternative with a plan to deliver for our city.
"Westminster residents deserve a council that listens, acts in their interest and treats every pound of taxpayers' money with respect. That is exactly what a Conservative-led council will deliver." — Cllr Paul Swaddle OBE, Leader, Westminster Conservative Group
On day one, we will appoint a dedicated Cabinet Member for Enforcement to deliver safe streets across Westminster. That means visible policing, faster penalties and real consequences for those who break the rules. Westminster Conservatives will champion neighbourhood policing, stand up to the Mayor's cuts to the Met, and crack down on illegal short-term lets that fuel disorder in residential streets.
A Conservative-led council will introduce proper due diligence on every contract, tougher scrutiny of major spending decisions, and full transparency so residents always know where their money is going. There will be no more blank cheques and no more Geoffrey Osbornes.
Westminster Conservatives are standing up for residents on Oxford Street. We tabled an amendment last night to establish a legal fighting fund to challenge the Mayor's pedestrianisation scheme, opposed by nearly 80% of residents in our local referendum. We will continue to fight for a solution shaped by local people rather than imposed from City Hall.
And on housing, a Conservative council will prioritise keyworker homes so that the teachers, nurses and young professionals who keep Westminster running can afford to live and work here. We will stand up for the thousands of Westminster families threatened by the Labour Government's Family Home Tax.
Westminster Conservatives will always be on the side of people in Westminster.
