SMILE LOVE, WE’RE OPENING OF ANOTHER FOOD BANK!

Let me get this right

On page 16 of last week’s Reporter and Chronicle (30 JAN 2014) and featured again on ‘The Executive Leaders Blog’ we were treated to an article regaling the visit of the Labour controlled Tameside council leader, who, on visiting the Droylsden and District Food Bank, said, “I find it a very sad fact that in 21st century Britain, 70 years after the welfare state was established at the end of the Second World War, food banks have again become a fact of life. He also said, “I think its appalling that in the year 2014 some people are relying on a food bank to get the essentials they need just to live for two or three days!”

Could it really be that this Labour councillor has forgotten why there is a need for food banks?

 "And when we put the Council Tax up again, we can open one of these every week!"

Does he really not know why some people are starving whilst trying to make ends meet with the little money they have; - for many people, buying food slips down their list of priorities simply because other things like rent, gas and electricity, have to take precedence.

Is there no limit to some people’s hypocrisy?

It’s all very well holding a box of meager provisions and smugly smiling whilst posing for the obligatory photo-shoot, when not too many weeks ago, he and his cabal of career councillors decided to saddle the already struggling residents of Tameside with a totally unnecessary 3.7 % rise in council tax.

I totally agree that food is a right and not a privilege, but, that being the case; these two-faced councillors need to stop “punishing” people for being poor. For many, by the time they pay their rent, increased council tax, water, gas and electric, there's hardly anything left.

In Tameside, lots of people are struggling to make ends meet and household finances are being stretched like never before.

So, this cynically political move by a council, who have a budget under-spend of some £7 million and well over £20 million in the bank, have helped push many more people to the point where they have to choose whether to heat their homes or put food on the table, but NOT BOTH!

Could it also be that the Labour leader has also conveniently forgotten that when the first food bank network was set up, in 2004, the employees of Job Centres were initially one of the main distributors of food bank vouchers- however, despite this highly effective means of providing help to people struggling to feed their families as a result of benefit delays, the previous Labour government issued a directive stopping Job Centres from referring clients in crisis to food banks!

Looking at the picture, and reading his weasel words; “…we are going to make sure that nobody in Droylsden or Tameside has to go hungry, no child should have to go hungry just because you haven’t got the money to buy food!” it might be interesting to know that behind those comforting words and ‘tea and sympathy smiles’ just how much compassion and support the poor can expect from these leaders of the supposedly socialist party of the people, should they choose to feed their children at the expense of delaying their council tax.

Last year, the year when the ‘bedroom tax’ was brought in, the registered social landlord New Charter Housing Trust Ltd, still continued to send out letters to their tenants who were in arrears, threatening legal action. These 'recovery proceedings' were being made in spite of comments made in the local press by New Charter boss, Ian Munro, that the tax should 'axed' and that it is both 'unfair and incompetent'.- So not much help or compassion there then!

Could it also have slipped the council leaders mind just how he and his fellow Labour councillors have no compunction but issue costly court orders like confetti and send in bailiffs to collect their unpaid council tax from vulnerable and impoverished householders?

And of course, as the councillor knows, those council commissioned bully boys do not only demand the outstanding council tax, they add court costs and bailiffs fees which does nothing to ease the financial burden on vulnerable people, who have already been hard hit by welfare reforms.

Now you might think that this practice is insignificant and it only happens on the few occasions you may have read about in the local press; you know, the snippet from the court where councillor Jim, who is responsible for something or other, is trotted out and some PR puppet regurgitates the council’s soporific mantra, but when I tell you that as many as 11,322; 13,240; 13,490 and 15,312 Tameside citizens were summoned to court for non-payment of council tax for the tax years 2009-2010; 2010-2011; 2011-2012 and 2012-2013; it seems to me that the council leaders are assuming that anyone not paying debts is a ‘won’t pay’, rather than a ‘can’t pay’.

The truth is that over the last few years, the council has used bailiffs to recover debts from thousands of Tameside individuals and struggling businesses. Ask them how compassionate they found their councillor when they chose to pay their suppliers or put their children’s welfare before the council’s tax demands.

But don’t despair. This year, local elections are planned, so I’ll make a prediction now. It won’t be long before some Labour councillor who is up for re-election will stand up and boldly announce that ‘this voting year, the council will not raise council tax’!

Please don’t be fooled.

These days, we hear and witness a whole range of promises being made with rhetoric and hype by political contenders who try assiduously to maintain their number of seats on the gravy train and cling on to the portals of power.

But as we all know, once elected, many begin to suffer an acute bout of amnesia that no doctor could cure. It’s a very common compliant among a great proportion of this particular breed of councillor.

So people get ready; it’s high time we woke up and got rid of these sitting councillors who claim they are the solution instead of a BIG part of the problem.

I don’t know about you but I'm sick of the same group of councillors who have got us where we are now, claiming they are the party of "change".