The Difference with Exeter Labour...

Lord Mayor Cllr Rob Newby unveils the custom-made
signs for the new community space at Arena Park

This morning I attended the official opening of the new youth facilities at Arena Park, in Exeter. The local residents' association, together with Devon & Cornwall Housing, Exeter Parkswatch and the local community have raised £100,000 - no mean feat in these hard times - to provide a youth shelter, a Multi Use Games Area (MUGA), play equipment and a huge community picnic table. (Actually, "picnic table" does not do the thing justice. Think medieval banqueting table!)

With me were the current Labour County Councillor for the area, Saxon Spence, my fellow Labour City Councillor, Moira MacDonald, the new Leader of the Labour Group on the County Council, Richard Westlake; and our Devon County Council election candidate Emma Morse. A whole team of Labour councillors and activists who have worked together with the community, local organisations and the City and County Councils to bring investment and partnership to a local area, and to deliver results.

Cllr Saxon Spence & Emma Morse
in the Arena Park youth shelter

Partnership is the key. Also there were the Devon & Somerset Fire Service, Parkswatch, Devon Youth Service, Devon & Cornwall Police, Exeter City Football Club's Football in the Community Project, and the amazing James Bond (yes, really!) of Carving Community - the organisation that recruited and led local young people in shaping their vision for a new youth shelter. The results are astounding - new community facilities that are loved and valued by the whole community, and form a new focus point for young and old, that bring the community together and enable residents to enjoy the open space together.

As we milled around the church hall enjoying our coffees I spoke to one local resident - a stalwart of the local residents' association. I was there to celebrate and support the local project, not to be "political", but that didn't stop this local resident becoming vocal. "The Conservatives have done nothing up here. Nothing." he said. "Even when we had Tory Councillors [for Pinhoe] they wouldn't do anything here. They just don't want to know."

Last year the Tory campaign in Pinhoe was highly visible. Teams of Conservative Future students from the University - together with activists bused in from other parts of Devon - supported local candidates to pound the streets and knock on doors. There were flurries of Twitter activity, declaring that Exeter Tories' activity was "#allyearround" - implying they were not simply out for your votes but were working 24/7 for the communities. 

Campaigning with Emma in "White City", Pinhoe

What a contrast this year! Our local team, supporting Emma Morse, has been actively campaigning for some months now, and has recently stepped-up activity to be canvassing daily now that the lighter evenings are here. We have not heard a peep from Emma's rival. Even asking residents as we campaign whether they have heard from the Tories has drawn a blank. I am surprised, but pleased. 

By contrast, Exeter Labour is a party rooted in local communities. The reason we have been able to bring so much to fruition across the city is because we have networks of City Councillors, County Councillors and grassroots community activists making things happen. For us, "all year round" is not a slogan for election times - it's the reality. Getting elected is just the start - after that comes the hard (but hugely rewarding) work of listening, planning and doing. Working with and through local communities to recognise their priorities and to plan for how - together - we achieve it. No wonder Exeter has become the "fourth happiest place to live" in the UK, in the top 2% of UK towns & cities for job creation and has the University, College and Museum of the Year! The city is run by a local Party that is itself rooted in the very communities it serves, and its activists are as much community activists as they are Party activists.

Vote Red - go Green! A whole row of older peoples'
bungalows in Pinhoe - all now fitted with solar panels

Emma is a local mum of two small children, and the daughter of a former City Council leader. Her husband is a local teacher, and Emma herself is a governor at a local school. She helps to run a local playgroup, and is a trustee of the local Community Centre. She hasn't been elected yet - this is what she does anyway. 

I once heard a great expression on leadership:

"You don't appoint leaders, you recognise them."

Leadership is not a "job" that you give to someone and then they "do" it. If you watch any group of people you will begin to recognise that some naturally begin to lead and serve others - to inspire and to motivate individuals for the collective good. Emma is in that category, and I will be proud to have her representing me as my local County Councillor on May 3rd. Please join us in supporting Emma on May 2nd, and if you would like to help with Emma's campaign, get in touch here.

Shameless: Tory Porkies in the Council Chamber

So, last night saw the meeting of the Full Council to approve Exeter City Council's budget for 2013-14. Perhaps foolishly, Exeter Tories had already given us a "heads up" on their likely forms of attack in their recent tweets of their election material. If their new leaflet was anything to go by, the Tories were going to argue against an increase in Council Tax by £5 per year, and - unbelievably - against the decision by Exeter Council to pass on the imposed cuts to Council Tax Support forced on us by central government.

Yesterday, I addressed these two issues in my blog post, pointing out that Conservative local authorities, and the Conservative Police & Crime Commissioner for Devon & Cornwall Police were also being forced to raise Council Tax, and that Sir Merrick Cockell - Tory Chair of the Local Government Association - had attacked the government's cuts to Council Tax benefit. I went along to Full Council convinced that local Tories surely wouldn't be daft enough to try these arguments in public - in a Council debate. 

Exeter Council's Leader, Labour Councillor Pete Edwards, set out the scale of the challenge facing local authorities, accurately set out Exeter's position as a resilient city in the face of significant national economic hardship, and Exeter Labour's clear plan for jobs and growth in the city. Cllr Edwards set out the need for an increase in Council Tax, and also set out the reasons why Exeter Council under Labour refuses to use the New Homes Bonus to "plug the shortfall" in government funding to local authorities.

Exeter Labour is using revenue from development and
growth to fund capital infrastructure and community
projects

Deputy Leader, Cllr Rachel Sutton reiterated this latter point. If Exeter were to "build in" income from a new scheme like the New Homes Bonus, and then that funding were to cease, Exeter would suddenly be left facing a stark "fiscal cliff" - and deep, hard cuts would follow. Exeter Labour chooses to have a balanced revenue budget, and use the New Homes Bonus income to invest in infrastructure projects and much-needed community facilities.

Cllr Greg Sheldon argued the case for the increase in Council Tax. The additional revenue raised matches the interest payments needed on our capital borrowing to invest in Exeter's proposed upgraded flood defences. £5 per household per year - less than 2p per day - so that Exeter can have the protection it needs in the future from the flood risks that we are starting to see far too frequently now. The Tories, it seems, oppose this common-sense move.

Tory Leader Cllr Henson

Sure enough, Exeter Tories' leader, Polsloe councillor Yolonda Henson  rose to her feet and while forced to recognise the excellent year Exeter has had under Labour, she attacked first the cut to Council Tax benefit, and then the rise in Council Tax itself. "I don't think it is fair to cut the Council Tax benefit," she said, "it's placing an extra burden on those already struggling."

Cllr Pete Edwards agreed. The issue is not whether Council Tax Benefit cuts affect the poorest - it does. The issue is who is responsible. "This is your cut - it's from your government," he rightly pointed out. "Why should I hide what this government is doing? Why should Exeter Council see more local cuts to hide national government cuts?" he asked.

I set out the arguments why Exeter Tories' apparent sudden "compassion" on the issue of Council Tax Benefit was desperate, cynical electioneering in yesterday's blog post, but Cllr Henson took this hypocrisy to a whole new level last night. You see, on the 20th November 2012, the Executive Committee of Exeter City Council met, and debated changes to Council Tax Benefit for 2013/14. The papers set out the facts - a 10% cut from national government. Pensioners must be protected - so the cut must be shared among working age households. If Councils choose not to pass the cut on, the shortfall would obviously have to be found elsewhere in the Council's budget.

The recommendation was that Exeter would reluctantly impose a 20% cut in local Council Tax Support. Minute 110 reads:

"Executive unanimously supported the proposed new scheme."

That's "unanimously." No one voted against it. No one abstained. Cllr Henson - now so vocally against the cut - voted in favour of it! Even as Exeter Tories tweet that local cuts to Council Tax Benefit - forced by cuts from this coalition government - were made "out of spite" and were "disgraceful", they knew that their own Leader had voted for them.

I later gave my speech, citing the same arguments as I made in yesterday's blog post. Cllr Henson approached me after the meeting to ask why I was quoting Sir Merrick Cockell. "He's in London," she said. "They don't get New Homes Bonus."

I didn't quite understand what she was trying to get at, so pointed out that I quoted Sir Merrick Cockell in the context of Council Tax Benefit cuts, not Council Tax or income; and that he was speaking as Chair of the LGA - a national body - not as Leader of his home Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. "It doesn't matter," she said again, "they don't get New Homes Bonus." Okay, but while this argument is of no consequence, it is still factually wrong. Not only does Kensington & Chelsea receive New Homes Bonus, it receives a higher value of bonus than most other areas!

Still, I took the opportunity to ask her the question I had been waiting to ask: 

Me: "If you are against the Council Tax Benefit scheme in Exeter, why did you vote for it at November's Executive Committee?" 

Cllr Henson: "Was I there?" (Not sure why she was asking me! But I had checked the minutes.)

Yes, Cllr Henson, you were there!

Me: "You were. And the scheme was supported unanimously. That means you must have voted for it."

Cllr Henson: "Oh. Well I probably misread the papers, then."

So there you have it. The Leader of Exeter Tories "misread" the papers on one of the very issues they are now campaigning on. That's a seven-page covering report, with illustrative tables to demonstrate the impact of the new scheme on different bands.

Oh, and the report on the consultation with local people about the scheme.

And the Equality Impact Assessment report about how the scheme would impact the most vulnerable sections of Exeter's community.

And the paper that set out the necessary amendments needed to the Council's constitution to apply the proposed scheme.

And four other papers related to the scheme. "Misread" all of them, apparently.

Either ExeterTories need to admit that they are now electioneering on an issue that their government is responsible for and that their Leader knowingly voted for, or they need to find a Leader who is capable of following critical Council business in meetings.

Exeter Labour is contesting the Devon County Council elections this May. You can read about our candidates here. We will be campaigning positively and honestly - focusing on our track record of delivery locally. Join us here. 

Tory Porkies - They're at it Again!

In addiction services, the definition of insanity, it is said, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Last year, as I campaigned to be your councillor for the Pinhoe ward on Exeter City Council, Exeter Tories' campaign was always negative, often personal and - ultimately - a complete failure. You may recall last year's Tory campaign leaflets. No vision, no sense of leadership, and - as the Tory government's unpopularity grew - often no Conservative branding!

Well, they're at it again. 

This year there are no City Council elections, but the Devon County Council elections will be taking place in May, and the Tories are clearly moving on to their usual election footing, as out comes this:

Let's deal with these Tory Porkies.

"End Council Tax Benefit". No. The fact is that the coalition government has given local authorities 10% less to fund Council Tax Support schemes (previously Council Tax Benefit.) However, they told local authorities that pensioners must be protected from any cuts - therefore a higher proportion of cut would be felt by other recipients, or - if authorities wanted to keep their same level of support - they would have to cut council services, or raise revenue in other ways. 

I pointed this out on Twitter to Exeter Tories, and got the following response: 

"Acted in spite" and "disgraceful", says Exeter Tories. Well, says their election agent Councillor Neil Wilson from - er - Newton Abbot. 

Exeter City Council has been forced to cut this support by 20%. Well, I would say that, right? I'm a Labour Councillor after all. The problem for Exeter Tories and their "local" agent Neil is that Exeter Labour's view is shared by the Conservative Chair of the Local Government Association, and Leader of Kensington & Chelsea Council (hardly a hotbed of socialism!) Sir Merrick Cockell:

Tory Chair of the LGA,
Sir Merrick Cockell

"The 10 per cent cut in funding has left many councils with little choice but to reduce the council tax discount offered to people on low incomes. The only other option is to take money away from other services or types of council tax payer to maintain the current levels of financial support.

"Councils are working hard to protect the most vulnerable and needy members of society but, as we warned when the cut was first proposed by the Government, this means that other benefit recipients will have to carry a larger share of the cut.

"Local authorities, which currently collect more than 97 per cent of council tax in the year it is billed, are concerned about the possible impact on collection rates and the knock-on effect it will have on council finances."

Nor is Exeter alone. Tory-run Mid Devon and East Devon are also imposing forced 20% cuts, while Tory councils in Torridge, North Devon and Torbay are introducing 25% cuts! I wonder if Exeter Tories feel those authorities are "disgraceful" and "spiteful" too? Or was this (yet again) just negative, cheap politicking from the Nasty Party?

"Raise Council Tax" Yes. Exeter Council's precept as part of your Council Tax is going up by £5. That's per year. That's an extra 41.6p per month. 9.6p per week, or 1.4p per day. Yes, that equates to 4%, but that's because Exeter's Council Tax starts from a very low point. The lowest in Devon, and one of the lowest in the country. 

This extra revenue protects front line services that we all depend on. It means that we are able to invest in our city, including much-needed flood defences. Yet reading Exeter Tories' leaflets you would think any increase in Council Tax was against their principles. In another tweet they were at pains to point out that Tory-led Devon County Council were freezing Council Tax this year. (There just happens to be DCC elections this year, too!)

Tory PCC Tony Hogg
- increasing Council Tax

What they DON'T tell you is that the part of your Council Tax that funds Devon & Cornwall Police - the police precept - is going up by the maximum 2%, or £3.19, a decision by the directly-elected Conservative Police & Crime Commissioner, Tony Hogg. (Remember him?!)

Cllr John Tucker
- increasing Council Tax

They also neglect to mention that Tory-led South Hams Council is taking advantage of exactly the same dispensation given by government to LOW TAX authorities like Exeter to increase Council Tax by up to £5. South Hams Council Leader, Tory  Councillor John Tucker said:

"South Hams is one of the few councils being allowed to do this simply because of its past successes in keeping its council tax so low. Councils in the same position as us are being allowed to raise their council tax by up to a fiver a year. Tax payers do not want to see front line services cut. With this increase there will be no cuts to vital services."

If Exeter Council were take the 1% bribe from Eric Pickles to keep freezing Council Tax, with what is already one of the lowest bases in the country, we will - in real terms - keep falling behind financially, and will be unable to sustain services for local people. This bribe to freeze tax is - as a Cornish Councillor recently said - "A self-defeating equivalent of a pay-day loan for councils." 

"At a time when more money is being pumped into the city from Central Government than ever before..." Er, no.

Labour-led Exeter continues to attract inward investment

Exeter's adjusted core grant from government is DOWN this coming year by 5.4%. However, well-run local authorities can "earn" extra income by retaining a greater proportion of local business rates (50%), and by collecting New Homes Bonus revenue for growth and development.

Fortunately for Exeter, under Labour the city is doing well - despite a triple-dip recession looming courtesy of the coalition government. Exeter is one of the country's fastest-growing cities, with inward investment rising. Exeter's retail vacancy rate is less than half the national average, and the city is in the top 2% of UK towns and cities for job creation. We have the University of the Year, the College of the Year, and the Museum of the Year. So, thanks to Exeter Labour's effective and efficient management of the City and its resources, our "spending power" will be UP this coming year. But this is thanks to our thriving businesses and growth - NOT thanks to national government grants!

Under Labour, Exeter has remained resilient in the face of national economic turbulence, and despite Osborne's failed economic plan. No wonder Exeter Tories have so little to say, and are reduced - once again - to pumping out desperate and cynical electioneering materials.

It didn't work last time. It won't work this time.

Exeter is doing too well under Exeter Labour. Join us. 



Tuesday 26th February was the Exeter City Council's Full Council meeting to debate the proposed budget from Exeter Labour. Surely the Tories wouldn't try these same arguments in the Council chamber, would they...? Report to follow....

Don't Believe the Benefits Hype Part One - Housing Benefit

The scene of the fallen tree that killed a homeless woman

Last Saturday night, during some of the worst storms and flooding seen in the westcountry in years, Michelle Conroy - a 21 year-old homeless woman - died when a tree came down on the tent in which she and two men were sheltering in Exeter. 

Early reports from the BBC simply stated that "a woman had died" when a tree fell on her, then as details emerged that she had been in a tent, BBC changed their reports to say that she was "camping." She was not camping. She was homeless, and she had died seeking shelter where she could.

In recent weeks Exeter Council has had several discussions and presentations about the changes and cuts this government is making to the welfare system. With a now tragic irony, many in Labour's ranks, and local voluntary agencies, have described these changes as an approaching "perfect storm". The stormy events of last Saturday night now create a desperate metaphor of the impact the seismic changes in the benefits system can have on the most vulnerable members of our community.

Shelter cannot guarantee service delivery
in Exeter beyond next March

Government cuts implemented by Tory-led Devon County Council has seen Exeter lose over 200 emergency and supported beds, while cuts are also seeing advice agencies that can help to prevent people losing their homes - the Citizens Advice Bureau and Shelter - losing staff at a time that demands on their services are soaring. 

One of the frustrations for me has been that public antipathy to the benefits system (and by extension to the recipients of those benefits) has been at a record high. An autumn poll for the Telegraph of over 3000 people showed 62% saying that they felt unemployment benefits are "too high", and a YouGov poll showed 36% being in favour of benefits being capped at under £20k a year. (The current cap will be set at £26k) In short, the idea of the "undeserving poor" - feckless, irresponsible, work-shy - has taken a hold. The rhetoric of the Tories has set working poor against workless poor, as was illustrated by the speeches George Osborne and David Cameron made to their Party's autumn conference. 

George Osborne at Conference 2012

"Where is the fairness, we ask, for the shift-worker, leaving home in the dark hours of the early morning, who looks up at the closed blinds of their next door neighbour sleeping off a life on benefits?" - George Osborne

"What are hard-working people who travel long distances to get into work and pay their taxes meant to think when they see families - individual families - getting 40, 50, 60 thousand pounds of housing benefit to live in homes that these hard working people could never afford themselves? It is an outrage. And we are ending it by capping housing benefit." - David Cameron

When the Left points out that this year the pay of top executives rose by an average of 27% when most workers' pay is not even keeping pace with rising food and energy costs, it is accused by the Tories of engaging in "the politics of envy". Yet when it comes to the poor, their strategy appears to be precisely to "divide and rule" - to persuade those that are working that those on benefits are somehow taking "their" money, getting "something for nothing", living an idle life on soaring benefit payments while those working are the "strivers." It's a sadly popular image.

Local Tory leader Yolonda Henson:
"They don't want to work!"

Even locally, the Tories peddle this view. At a recent meeting of Exeter Council's Executive Committee, as Labour Councillor Rosie Denham was stressing her concern about the growing number of local long-term unemployed, the Exeter Conservative leader was heard to say, "But they don't want to work!"

Here's a conundrum. In October, the government told us that employment  - those in work - rose to a record level. In the same month, local housing allowance (housing benefit) also rose to a record high. How can that be? If the Tories' economic strategy has somehow moved the "feckless and work-shy" reluctantly into employment, then surely our benefit payments should be falling, not rising? It is by answering these questions that we start uncovering the truth. 

The reason housing benefits are often so high is that private rents are high. The lack of affordable homes and social housing is pushing growing numbers of people into the private rental sector, which in turn is pushing rents up. The average rent of a 3 bedroom family home in Exeter is over £900 per month. The benefits paid to cover some of that (capped incidentally at just £700) is not money going to the claimants - it goes straight into the pockets of the landlord - and with the family concerned needing to find the additional £200.

93% of new housing benefits claims last year were from
households in work

According to the DWP, the government's own definition of "affordable" housing is rents costing no more than 25% of a household's gross (pre-tax) income. So, in order to afford, say, a modest £800 a month rented family home in Exeter, a household would need an income of £3200 per month, or £38,400 per year. The mean average household income is £31,500; but it is estimated that 21% have an income of less than £15,000 and 10% have an income of less than £10,000. Housing benefit costs are rising not because there are growing numbers of unemployed, but because rents are rising, and people who are actually in work simply do not earn enough. Last year, a staggering 93% of all new housing benefit claims were made by households that had at least one working adult. Yet the government has persisted with its caps and cuts, painting pictures of large, idle, workless families enjoying palatial homes at tax-payers expense. It is a myth. (Incidentally, 93% of benefit-claiming families have 3 children or fewer, and less than 1% have 5 or more children to support.)

From 2014, it is mooted, housing benefit will be removed altogether for those under 25. Even if young people of Michelle Conroy's age approach services for help, they will not be entitled to housing benefit. What other impact can such measures possibly have than to increase the number of young, vulnerable people on our streets?

What is to be done?

• Labour voted against a welfare cap, recognising that what is needed is greater regulation of private landlords, reducing rents, not capping housing benefits.
• Labour is calling for a huge building programme to provide more homes, more jobs and to boost a flagging economy. 
• In Exeter, over the next 5 years our Labour-led Council is on target to deliver more affordable homes (including housing cooperatives) than any other area in the southwest
• "Making work pay" and ensuring people are not "better off on benefits" is not about cutting benefits to poverty levels, but about ensuring that employers pay a living wage. Exeter Labour councillors and Ben Bradshaw MP have all voted against regional pay in the southwest, and are working on plans to make Exeter a living wage city.



Michelle Conroy, who died homeless
in Exeter this week.

• Exeter Labour is introducing a more strategic response to delivering benefits payments, by a complete business transformation review of the Council's Customer Service Centre, to ensure it functions as a "one-stop shop" for advice, and is directly linked with Citizens Advice Bureau, Shelter and other community sector services.

While this government remains in power, I am not at all confident that tragedies such as the death of Michelle Conroy will not happen again on Exeter's streets. However, Exeter Labour will be doing all it can to coordinate its reduced resources and pressured but excellent frontline services to minimise the impact of government cuts on the most vulnerable in our city. 

Nationally or Locally - It's the Same Old Tories

Many Tory backbenchers are said to be "furious" at the PM's continued
defence of embattled Whip, Andrew Mitchell

This government is increasingly looking like it may be a one-term administration. Opinion polls make grim reading for Tory agents these days, as Labour enjoy a consistent lead of 9-12% and - critically - Cameron's own approval ratings have crashed. Just 26% think his government is doing a good job, while 61% disapprove. One area that comes up again and again for voters polled is that the Tories are seen as "out of touch" with the lives of ordinary people. While the rest of us see our income down in real terms because of inflation racing ahead of pay increases, with surges in energy, fuel and food bills, the Tories have cut the taxes of the wealthiest so that their millionaire friends have at least an extra £48,000 a year in their pockets.

In recent weeks, the government's cause was not helped by the hapless Andrew Mitchell, the government's Chief Whip, becoming a poster boy for this out-of-touch elite as mid-tantrum he allegedly screamed "Best you learn your f***ing place. You don't run this f***ing government. You're f***ing plebs." Of course, he denies using those words, but he has yet to say what he thinks he did say. And yesterday, the Prime Minister declined to give his account to set the record straight, and continues to back his man. (We've been here before of course - with Andy Coulson receiving Cameron's ill-judged support when it was clear to everyone else that he had to go.) Labour is pressing for a vote on the issue.

Under these circumstances, you would have thought Tories would be bending over backwards to show that they DO understand, that they DO realise that times are very hard indeed for many, many households, and that they are busy making things better for all the people of the nation that they govern - not just their wealthy friends and supporters. That's why I was amazed to see this tweet from Newton Abbot town councillor and election agent & organiser for Exeter Tories, Neil Wilson:

Needless to say, Exeter Labour councillors who saw this statement were outraged. We get letters and emails every day from local people who are struggling to make ends meet, who are skipping meals so that their children can eat, who are struggling to meet rent payments, energy bills and council tax payments. Yet, the Conservatives' local organiser - the man responsible for coordinating their elections - believes the idea that those who already have little are struggling with even less is "sh*t". It's time Neil got out there and spoke to some struggling families!

Neil soon realised his public Tweet may not be voter-friendly though, hastily deleting the offending statement, but not before a quick-thinking Cllr Catherine Dawson & Cllr Paul Bull had retweeted it.

He had deleted it, he said, because it was "not his most eloquent argument" and because "certain people seem intent on misconstruing a historical fact, for their own political purposes."

Two days later, I tweeted a report that showed that the highest proportion of children relying on foodbanks for nourishment in the UK is in the southwest. It was the most re-tweeted article I have ever posted from my account. I suggested Neil read it. Maybe he had learned something from our previous discussion. He hadn't:

I was gobsmacked. Our Tory organiser appeared to be suggesting that charitable food hand-outs were some kind of Big Society project to be welcomed, rather than a desperate charity safety net that shouldn't  be necessary in the first place if people had decent jobs at a living wage.

Sadly, Neil is not alone in his views within the local Tory Party. On Tuesday night, at Exeter Council's Full Council meeting, Labour councillor Phil Bialyk tabled a Notice of Motion opposing the Government's proposals to introduce regional pay for public servants. What followed was extraordinary.

Local authorities up and down the country, of all political colours, have opposed regional pay. In areas like Exeter, where so many people work in the public sector, the local economy would be hard hit by a significant number of workers with less to spend each month. We expected a common-sense and relatively short debate followed by unanimous support for the motion.

Before Phil had even got to his feet to introduce the motion, Tory councillor Norman Shiel (no stranger to controversy) asked the Lord Mayor to move straight to the vote, with no open debate of this important issue. His proposal was immediately seconded by Tory Leader Yolonda Henson (below). The motion was, they tried to argue, party-political, and an opportunity for "grandstanding" from the Left. This despite the fact that many business leaders have spoken out against regional pay - this is not a public sector versus private sector debate!

The Labour benches were disgusted at this attempt to stifle debate, it showed a complete contempt for democracy and a disdain for our many local public sector workers. The Chief Executive interjected and explained that as debate had not begun, we could not yet go to the vote, and that debate should be allowed. Tory Jake Donovan was first to his feet, and spoke passionately (if not altogether coherently) about the injustice of public sector pay, and said that he would oppose the motion. Second, came another local Tory, Andrew Leadbetter, who said he had some sympathy with the motion, and would not oppose it - but nor did he feel he could support it either.

So much for the issue being "party political". Labour and the Liberal Democrats all spoke in support of the motion, while Tory after Tory spoke in different directions. Again, Cllrs Shiel and Henson moved to go to the vote. They were overruled by the Lord Mayor, and debate continued until everyone had had their say. In his summing up, Cllr Bialyk reminded Cllr Donovan that many public sector workers lived in his ward, Pennsylvania; and then requested a recorded vote - where rather than a show of hands each councillor has the way they voted recorded publicly and individually. The Tory councillors who had spoken so fiercely against the motion - Donovan, Shiel and Henson - appeared to lose their nerve. Every single Conservative councillor abstained. Every single Labour and Liberal Democrat councillor voted in favour of Exeter opposing Regional Pay. 

Exeter, thanks to Labour and with support from the Lib Dems, now officially sides with public servants in resisting the cutting of their pay. We will stand with those families who are struggling to make ends meet in this recession - the deepest since the Second World War - and will oppose Tory cuts, whether to pay, welfare, or to local services.

And the local Tories? They seem as aloof as Andrew Mitchell, as dithering as Cameron, and as out-of-touch as their own local agent. 

Credits: PMQs photo via BBC. Photo of Cllr Henson via This Is Exeter website, Express & Echo.

Q. What are the Liberal Democrats FOR anymore?

Maybe it's just the benefit of the coverage of their conference last week, maybe it's Nick Clegg's (brief) stint in the charts for the remixed version of that apology (left), but the Lib Dems seem to be getting a little more coverage than usual. Nick Clegg may have apologised for making the tuition fees pledge (not for breaking it you understand), but otherwise he used his conference speech to defend Osborne's calamitous budget, and insisted that the government - and the Lib Dems in it - must press on with its austerity agenda. He defended the tax cut at the top rate that puts £40k a year in the pockets of millionaires. At the same time he refused to rule out further cuts to welfare, when most frontline agencies are expressing profound concerns about the impact on those already announced on the poorest and most vulnerable in our communities when they come into force next year. As Ed Miliband said in interviews this weekend, far from being a "brake" on the ideology of the Tories, the Lib Dems are an accomplice to swathing cuts that are not only damaging to our communities, but are damaging to the economy. 

When you give tax cuts to millionaires, they do not spend that additional money - they invest it. The economy does not grow through a policy like that. It grows when the millions of ordinary people in this country have jobs that pay a living wage, and the taxation and spending that results lifts business and public spending across the board. The policies of this Tory government - and their Lib Dem co-conspirators - are choking off any hope of growth, and the deficit - the very purpose the Lib Dems said they went into coalition - is growing as a result. The policies are failing, the government is failing, and the coalition partnership is failing.

Nick Clegg's determination to defend austerity (like his decision to defend rises in tuition fees) is entirely at odds with his pre-election message:

"Imagine the Conservatives go home and get an absolute majority, on 25% of the eligible votes," Clegg said. "They then turn around in the next week or two and say we're going to chuck up VAT to 20%, we're going to start cutting teachers, cutting police and the wage bill in the public sector. I think if you're not careful in that situation… you'd get Greek-style unrest. And so my warning to people who think the old politics still works, is be careful for what you wish for."

Since that Observer electioneering interview, Clegg & the Lib Dems have voted through:

• VAT rise to 20%
• Cuts to teaching budgets (of up to 40% in the University sector, despite rising tuition fee income)
• Huge cuts to the police, that see Devon & Cornwall Police seeing the fifth highest cuts to officers in the country 
• Public sector pay freeze that means a real-terms cut for over 4 million workers, while job losses in the sector continue

ALL the things Clegg cautioned would lead to "Greek-style unrest". What has changed? Why were these policies disastrous as far as the Lib Dems were concerned before they gained power, yet now are "necessary"?

The party also sought election on a platform of constitutional reform and human rights. They failed spectacularly to get a "Yes" to an alternative voting system in the referendum, that was called ridiculously prematurely in the parliament. Nor could the Lib Dems wield any influence whatsoever over their Tory masters on Lords Reform, while the draft Communications Bill will give security forces the powers to monitor internet use and mobile communications that would make most libertarian Lib Dems squirm. 

Clegg wows the Lib Dem activist base at conference 2012!

It's hard to see how any Lib Dem activist could possibly look a voter in the eye ever again and claim that Lib Dems are a force for progress and change. They are either impotent, or complicit. Either they lack principle or spine. 

All this is, of course, concerned with the national picture. But what of our local Lib Dem presence? Lib Dems have often enjoyed local support as a party of "good local people", even if their national party is in the doldrums. In Exeter, the local Lib Dems' fortunes have been closely mirroring those of their national colleagues. In the heady days of 2008 the Lib Dems were the largest party on Exeter City Council with 13 councillors, and enjoying 27% of the vote across the city. Their close (if antiquated) Liberal allies had a further 3 councillors. Since the 2010 General Election, and their sudden chuminess with the Tories, it's all been downhill.

In June 2010 Cllr Rob Hannaford and then Cllr Adrian Hannaford defected from the Lib Dems to Labour in protest at the coalition government. They could hardly be accused of "glory-hunting" or "opportunism" at a time when Labour still trailed in the polls and the coalition enjoyed its (admittedly brief) honeymoon period with the press and electorate. Then, an extra set of autumn elections was triggered by the coalition's decision to reverse Labour's decision to allow Exeter unitary status. The Lib Dems lost one of the three seats it was defending. 

Lib Dem leader Adrian Fullam watches over counting on
a depressing night for his party in May (via BBC)

In 2011 they lost a further 2, as did the local Liberal Party; but then in May of this year the Lib Dems were reduced to just 5 City councillors - with just 14% of the vote across the city, as Labour (already the largest group since 2010) took outright control. In amongst these results there were some shocks. County councillor Vanessa Newcombe lost her City seat to Labour newcomer Rob Crew in Alphington, a full 10% behind in the share of the vote. In St Davids, Labour's Sarah Laws surprised herself by unseating Philip Brock - one half of a well-established husband-and-wife Lib Dem team with his wife, Stella, while in St Thomas the local voters re-elected Rob Hannaford - now firmly in the Labour camp. Both Philip Brock and Vanessa Newcombe will no doubt be nervous in May 2013 as they have to defend their County Council seats against a strong Labour challenge - and the Lib Dems face being wiped out as far as the County Council is concerned in Exeter.

What have they learned? Nothing it seems. The local Lib Dems continue to defend the absurd positions adopted by their national leaders, still vainly trying to persuade local voters that the policies that we all know are choking recovery, and are hurting us - or the lives of those we know - are a good thing. The Exeter Lib Dem website still carries an article stating that the 2012 budget, almost universally derided as the most disastrous budget in living memory, was in fact a budget "for the many not the few"! No lessons have been learned. I would invite anyone in Exeter to attend Council meetings and witness the Lib Dems (and their leader in particular) enjoy the cosiest of relationships with the Tory "opposition" on the Council. 

Let me be clear. I have many friends who are current or past Lib Dem activists. My favorite newspaper - the Guardian - came out in favour of the Lib Dems in 2010. For many, the Lib Dems presented an option in 2010 that was carefully crafted to supposedly offer a "more progressive" alternative to those on the Left than Labour. I don't blame anyone for looking for an alternative when Labour looked like it was running out of steam. However, those that fell for it, now feel duped. One of the saddest developments recently is that a local (and somewhat secretive!) Lib Dem blogger, Lonely Wonderer, stopped writing in July signing off by saying, "I think I've largely failed to get through to fellow Lib Dems" - and this after his / her penultimate posting asked the pertinent question, "Is the Lib Dem core vote circling the plughole?"

I believe there are some good, principled people in the rank-and-file of the local Lib Dem supporter base. However, these people are not served by a party leadership that is still in denial about its own role and complicity in implementing a vehemently Tory agenda that even Thatcher could only have dreamt of. I understand that the previous Labour government got things wrong, things that may make some Liberal and Social Democrats question - but those same debates rage in the Labour party too. Indeed, Ed Miliband has voiced his own reservations about some aspects of our recent history. The difference is that Labour is facing up to its record and refounding itself, and - against all odds if the media is to be believed - is doing so under a unified leadership and re-energised activist base. 

There is every prospect that the Liberal Democrats will take another beating in the 2013 County Council elections. And in 2014's City Council elections. Why would someone who cares about progressive politics stay in a party facing electoral irrelevance? "Because we're a Party of principle - we don't just seek power," was an explanation offered to me by one local Lib Dem friend. This may have carried some weight had the "principles" of no rises in tuition fees, no increase in VAT, no tax cuts for the wealthiest not been so readily sacrificed on the altar of coalition politics. 

Exeter Lib Dems' group of councillors is dwindling fast, its supporter and activist base is shrinking and it will struggle to defend the seats it has - never mind fight to make gains for some years to come. Meanwhile Exeter Labour - with  a growing band of councillors and an experienced and heavyweight MP - is ensuring the city rides out the double-dip recession that was made in Downing Street. 

Maybe, one day, a re-energised third centrist party will emerge again from the ashes of this calamitous Lib Dem era - but let's not pretend that the Lib Dems are a force for good in the coalition, or that they are either "Leftist" or "progressive". If you counted yourself as on the left or  a progressive in 2010, then the Lib Dems have failed you, but it's an exciting time to be part of Labour. This nation and this city still has some huge problems to face up to and solve no one is pretending otherwise. Yet neither the Tories nor the Lib Dems have the answers, that much is clear. But in Exeter Labour you will find a vibrant and energetic local party that is getting on with working at community level to find the solutions we all need. 

If you voted Lib Dem last time and feel as betrayed as the polls suggest so many do, then come home to Labour.