Opinion

The issue of MPs expenses rightly outraged all residents in Luton South after the shameful actions of our MP Margaret Moran were brought to light.

Since then the Labour Party in Luton has continued to support her and ignore the growing anger of Luton residents and calls for her to resign and not be rewarded with a susbstantial pay-off.

These simply are the actions of people who care more for their party than those who elected them. They put the Labour Party first and had more concern for Ms. Moran’s and their own damaged reputation than the people of our community.

This evening Gavin Shuker was selected as the Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Luton South. But does he agree with those he seeks to represent, including myself as a Luton South resident, that Ms. Moran actions were disgraceful and that the local Labour party’s decision to support was by no means in the best interests of local residents?

Since May we have been without a committed, active MP in our town in a time when we need it the most. The Labour Party though has allowed this state of affairs to continue, does the new candidate think this is fair or right? Should local people have the right to sack an MP who continues to let people down?

In Luton South we do not need someone who is going to put a party before the people they seek the honour of representing and they deserve to know where their candidates stand on the issue of Margaret Moran.

After years of jobs being lost, our manufacturing industry suffering due to a failed economy and politicians putting their own interests first the simple fact is enough is enough. Luton South deserves better than this. It deserves real change.

It is time we put Luton South first again.

Cllr. Qurban Hussain

Luton South Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate.

In his speech to the Labour Party Conference, Gordon Brown called for people to have the right to sack their MP for gross misconduct. Why then does the Labour Party allow for Margaret Moran to continue as the MP for Luton South?

Ms. Moran has a clear record of letting her constituents, including myself, down and bringing shame to our politics, but in Luton South we are forced to endure the untenable situation where we are still represented in Parliament by someone who does not deserve the honour of representing the hard working people who elected her.

When the expenses scandal broke we thought Ms. Moran and the Labour Party could not sink any lower, but they have. When the Labour controlled council chose to reward her with a huge payout instead of forcing her to resign the Labour Party showed for all to see that they can no longer be trusted.

In these increasingly difficult times where my fellow residents in Luton South are fearful for their jobs and their families’ future it is an insult to our community that the Labour Party continues to deny us the right to elect a new MP by forcing Ms. Moran to resign. It is appalling that this is allowed to carry on.

It may be too late by the 2010 General Election for a new MP to fight for the jobs of our automotive workers. Enough is enough, we need change and we demand it now.

Yours Faithfully,

Councillor Qurban Hussain,

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, Luton South.

It is unacceptable that a town the size of Luton, with a population approaching two hundred thousand, does not have a decent civic hall for public gatherings and theatre and concert performances. It is shameful that we are the largest town in the region, and perhaps in the country, without such a civic amenity. And it is scandalous that the Labour council – which, in their 2007 local election manifesto, promised to develop “a cultural vision for Luton” – have pulled the plug on this vision by removing from the council’s capital programme the commitment to pursue such a project, even though it has always been assumed that the private sector would be expected to fund it.

In the last version of the Luton Local Plan, the then Liberal Democrat council identified the possibility of providing, in partnership with a third party, a large theatre and multi-performance venue in the town centre. The aim of keeping this project in the council’s capital programme was to keep alive the hope that, one day, a developer would see the commercial opportunity of building a civic hall in Luton as part of a major regeneration of the town. Now, as soon as this council starts to get serious about persuading investors to “Think Luton, Think Success”, and begins to look for business partners to deliver the much-needed transformation and improvement of the town, what does it do? It sends out the clear message to those developers and investors that Luton does not want, or need, a civic centre by removing all mention of it from its capital programme!

How sad that the Labour councillors do not care about this town, or have any civic pride in the place. How sad that they cannot even keep alive the hope that, one day, Luton will be able to have its own performance venue, where decent-sized audiences could enjoy theatre, concerts and other major public events. How sad that Dunstable – considerably smaller than Luton – can boast a venue for nearly 800 people, when all we can offer is the (tiny) Hat Factory and the (238-seat) Library Theatre. How sad that Lutonians must travel to Dunstable, or Stevenage, or Milton Keynes, or London, to enjoy performances and facilities of any size and significance. How sad that Lutonians have to put up with yet more retail outlets, pubs, bars and cheap restaurants, instead of the decent entertainment and cultural facilities which we have waited decades for, and which we deserve.

We have reported on this website the fact that Liberal Democrat members walked out of the Council meeting on 24th July. This article is to help our readers to understand why this action was taken.

During a Liberal Democrat sponsored debate on Community Cohesion a Labour councillor openly called Liberal Democrats racists and accused us of condoning the holocaust, of being the kind of people who would stand by and watch the concentration camps being built, of refusing to fight the fascist BNP.

Such allegations are disproved by the vigour and commitment with which we have stood resolutely by our principles over the years, even at times when those principles have been unpopular.

In my 40 years in active politics in Luton no-one has ever offered me gross and personal insults like these and no-one who understand Liberal Democrats will be surprised that I and my colleagues are deeply offended and hurt.

We left the Council Chamber as the debate descended into chaos and the behaviour of some Labour members was so bad it seriously embarrassed even some of their own colleagues. Several of them said so after the meeting. We are not prepared to sit there and listen to Labour councillors accusing us of being racists and accused us of condoning the holocaust, of being the kind of people who would stand by and watch the concentration camps being built, of refusing to fight the fascist BNP.

We all hope that a way can be found to restore at least some kind of sense into the way Council meetings are conducted but no-one should doubt the depth of offence and hurt sincerely felt by me personally and by my Liberal Democrat colleagues over these outrageous slurs.

When I put forward our motion on “Improving Integration and Cohesion in Luton” to the full Council meeting on Tuesday I did not expect the extraordinary reaction from Labour members that followed. The motion was our response to a government report drawn up by former Luton Chief Executive Darra Singh which recommended a number of actions which local councils should take to promote integration and social cohesion.

We thought that, while different parties might have issues with the detail, we would get all party support for the motion. We did not expect that the debate that followed would result in the wildest of accusations being made by Labour councillors.

We were disgusted that on a motion we put down where we expressed what we hoped was the joint commitment of the town to improve relations across our communities, Labour Councillors Robin Harris and Mahmood Hussain accused us of not standing up to the BNP, and of being the kind of people who would remain silent when concentration camps were being set up.

The Liberal Democrats have always opposed all forms of discrimination and inequality, and we remain utterly committed to continuing to do so. Nobody fought harder against the BNP than our councillors in Round Green, supported by other Liberal Democrat colleagues across Luton.

We have never heard such a debased and unprincipled debate ever in the Town Hall and hope never to do so again. We had hoped to remain to vote for the motion despite the tenor of the debate, but in the end it proved too much to stomach and we did not feel we wanted to be associated with that level of debate. Many of us felt physically sick listening to such odious remarks, and if this is a sign of the Town’s so-called leadership, Luton is going to be in a very sorry state in a very short time.

There is no place anywhere for the disgusting, libellous and defamatory remarks we were subjected to in that debate. That they should be supported by the Council Leader, who sat silently and uncritically throughout the tirades while pressing on with a petty anti-Liberal Democrat amendment to what was intended to be a unifying motion, is an ill sign of things to come.

Liberal Democrats were proposing a positive formal offer to work with Labour, to look seriously and non-politically at community relations and integration in this town, and to see what lessons we can learn from a high level report from a former Luton Chief Executive Darra Singh who worked under Lord McKenzie. Their response was beyond and beneath any behaviour I have experienced before.

We remain committed to considering the issues we have now got onto the Council agenda, and will try to play our part if there is no repeat of this kind of disgraceful performance. A genuinely meant apology from the Leader of the Council for the behaviour of several members of her group, and a complete retraction and apology from Councillor Robin Harris for all of his outrageous statements, would be a good start in helping repair the damage they have done, but the signs do not look good.

We did everything possible to give the issue of community relations the strong base it needs to prosper in terms of the Council taking a lead. We were not just rebuffed, but kicked in the face. Labour slithered into the gutter in that debate, and show no signs of seeing a way back up out of it.

Of all the people we thought would not do so, it was Councillor Simmons, but perhaps she is being held ransom by others in her group and doesn’t have the authority to overrule them. Either way, with Luton’s so-called leaders acting in this way, we now fear for our town.

It’s hard to remember now but four years ago Luton was a very different place. The streets were strewn with rubbish, graffiti and fly posters were everywhere and there were abandoned cars around every corner. Our parks were tatty and unkempt and the town centre had been left to decay.

Liberal Democrats have cleaned up Luton’s streets. Every road in the town is now on a regular street cleaning round and many streets now receive regular ‘deep cleans’.

Liberal Democrats have doubled recycling. Four years ago only 14% of household waste was recycled. We have beaten the target we set for ourselves and now recycle 31% of all household waste. The next target is to be recycling 40% by the end of 2008.

Liberal Democrats have improved Wardown and Brantwood Parks, both of which have been awarded Green Flag awards. Improvements to many other parks are planned.

Liberal Democrats have put more council resources aside for the care of the elderly and vulnerable, increasing the budget by 54% in four years.

Liberal Democrat leadership has secured significant funding and external investment for a wholesale regeneration of the town. The new St. George’s Square is already complete and by 2010 the whole of the town centre will have been transformed, with a brand new station area and the rebuilding of Power Court.

Liberal Democrats have kept annual rises in Council Tax as low as possible. The average over the last four years was just 4.7%, compared to the 9% average rises under the final years of Labour rule.

Liberal Democrats in Luton are passionate about improving our town. On Friday morning Luton will wake up to either a Labour or Liberal Democrat administration. If you share our vision for the town then please use your votes on Thursday 3rd May to elect our candidates.

The proportion of household waste collected which is recycled has more than doubled in the four years Liberal Democrats have been running Luton Council. In March 2003 14% of all domestic waste was recycled and by September 2006 this had increased to 30%.

The Council collects around 100,000 tonnes of domestic waste each year. Currently 30,000 tonnes are recycled and 70,000 tonnes go to landfill dumps. The Council pays £2M a year of Council Tax payers’ money to the government in Landfill Tax. The government has already said it will increase the rate of Landfill Tax by £3 a tonne every year so even if the amount going to landfill stays the same the Landfill Tax bill will go up by £210,000 every year.

Already around 75% of Luton households are using the green and brown bins provided. If everyone recycled their household waste the amount of unnecessary Landfill Tax paid by Luton’s taxpayers would be significantly reduced.

In order to help households recycle even more the Council has introduced ‘Bin Swap Stickers’. These are available from the Town Hall (see below) and allow residents to use the larger black bin for recycling and the smaller green one for ordinary domestic waste.

Starting in April the Council will be introducing a doorstep glass re-cycling scheme.

The refuse & re-cycling team are currently working out where the scheme should start. The intention is to roll out glass recycling across the whole town, more evidence of the importance that Luton’s Liberal Democrat-led administration places on taking practical green action.

Your local Liberal Democrat councillors are aware that many local residents have concerns about the recent changes to the Council’s concessionary bus fares scheme. We thought it would be useful to explain why these changes have happened.

Just before the last General Election the Government announced that it was going to introduce free bus travel for pensioners. We supported this in principle, as this is an idea that Liberal Democrats have suggested before. But instead of introducing this sensibly through a properly funded national scheme, the government passed responsibility for making this work down to local councils and then failed to follow this with adequate funding.

This has meant that in Luton the Council has had to replace its current concessionary fares scheme, that gave Luton pensioners discounted travel within the area of Luton, Dunstable, Houghton Regis and on routes to other towns in the area, with the Government requirement of free travel in Luton.

As this would have meant giving pensioners a much worse deal, the Council has worked hard to put in place a sensible scheme that allows free travel throughout Luton, Dunstable and Houghton Regis and some discounted travel to other places. This was the new scheme that began on the 1st of April 2006.

However, there is a limited budget for subsidising buses and the Government haven’t even given the Council enough to cover the minimum scheme.

This has meant that in order to pay for free bus travel money needed to be moved from other spending on bus services. So the decision was taken to stop subsidising Sunday bus services and to provide discounted travel on a smaller number of routes to other towns in the area than they used to.

This is a real shame but the alternative is further increases in Council Tax.

We share many of the concerns of the residents who have contacted us about this. We accept that this situation is far from being an ideal one, but we believe we have tried our best to get the best deal we could for Luton residents.

Incidentally, the Government have now done what Liberal Democrats having been saying both locally and nationally for ages and announced that they will introduce a national free bus travel scheme, although we will have to wait until 2008. If they had done it this way in the first place they would have saved us all a lot of bother.