Cllr. Clifford Morris- "Bolton Update"

Cllr. Clifford Morris, Leader of Bolton Council's Labour Group spoke to members on what has happened in the Borough since Labour lost control in 2004 and answered members' questions at the Branch AGM in January 2005.

Cllr. Clifford Morris - "Bolton Update" Clifford began by thanking the Branch for inviting him to speak and he wished all members a happy new year. He said that 2004 had been an interesting year. We actually did better than we had expected in the local elections; but, even though the Council was in good shape and had attained the highest rating (beacon status) we had lost, probably on the national political situation. After the elections we had agonised for two weeks and negotiated to see if we could work out a way in which we could effectively retain control as a minority administration or in a coalition with one of the other parties; in fact only with the Lib-Dems. The possibilities had been for a Tory/Lib-Dem coalition or a Labour/Lib-Dem one. In the end we decided to go into opposition leaving the Lib-Dems in control and with the difficult decisions to make.

Eventually the Lib-Dems took the Executive positions and we took the Chairs of the Scrutiny Committees. Unfortunately both Bob and Guy were defeated so the Labour Group had had to have a new leadership. Cliff said that he was honoured to have been elected as Leader and he said that Linda Thomas is an extremely effective Deputy.

The Labour Group has decided to work much more closely with the town's three Labour MPs but, for the first year at least, it will be difficult for us to be too critical of the Lid-Dems because they are simply implementing the policies and programmes that they inherited from us. For the first three months we allowed them a honeymoon period.

Barbara Ronson has to consult with both us and the Tories over main policy issues but didn't over car parking charges and, as a result, was defeated in Council. We did a deal with the Tories over the Area Forums and again defeated the Lib-Dems in Council. So the honeymoon was over.

Cliff thought that the first really big battle will be over the budget for 2005/2006. There is an excellent settlement from the Government and we are insisting that the extra money coming into the town for education will actually be spent on that. We've decided as a Group to let the Lib-Dems make the budget, look critically at it and come up with our own alternatives. They are likely to go for a 4½ - 5% increase but there will need to be big cuts to keep it down to this level.

We are having to be very careful about how we handle things and avoid getting into deals with either of the other parties. We could easily become the largest party if one of the Lib-Dems defected or if a couple of them became Independents, which is very possible. They are having a very easy press at present. In the run up to the general election we have to completely support the Government and we will do so.

Leilia thought that "hung" councils could be a good thing as there has to be an element of consensus. However, it seems that such a situation makes it difficult to implement almost any policies. She asked whether this meant that progress in our priority areas will be much slower. She thought that reorganisation of post-16 education had come to a "grinding halt" and it seems that officers of the Council are taking decisions that should be taken by the politicians.

Cliff said that that's true; but, of course, Executive members can make decisions but they are often dithering when they should be making them. There are only 21 Lib-Dems and they are acutely aware that there are 39 against them. In addition, they have very little experience. He added that a large number of the Racial Equality Councils across the country have lost their funding and this is a very difficult issue in Bolton; one on which decisions and action need to be taken.

Terry said that when the Lib-Dems were in opposition they made a big "hoo haa" about litter and rubbish, the state of the roads and antisocial behaviour; but now they're in power they are doing nothing about these issues.

Joyce thought that, having got into the situation where we have lost control, we need to look at how we run our election campaigns. We need to have better organisation to take workers out of winnable wards and set them to work in those we can win or are defending.

Cliff mentioned that there is a borough-wide Labour Strategy Group and this is just the sort of issue that they will be looking at. Hulton ward is a target seat for us, as is Blackrod and one of the Westhoughton ones. There is a fund set up by the labour Councillors to provide financing for local elections and there will be a concerted effort in the general election campaign.

Graham asked that, since the Lib-Dems were implementing Labour's policies what difference would there have been had we remained in control, instead of losing?

Cliff replied that the 16 - 19 education reforms would have been moved on, the hotline for roads and pavements, that has been all but abandoned, would still be effective. He instanced the merger of St. Oswald's and St. Andrew's schools which has now gone awry; things are starting "to drift" and there is no real leadership. The decision about the Market Hall should have been taken in October but it won't happen until at least March now. It had been previously agreed that car parking charges would be increased with inflation but nothing has been done and the income that would have been generated is greatly needed.

Terry asked about successful ward branches helping unsuccessful ones. Cliff said that, of course, this isn't an issue for the Council but for the Labour Local Government Committee. We need to get members involved in the Area Forums and report back to Labour Councillors if there are issues that are not being tackled.

John asked what is likely to happen to the Market Hall. Cliff replied that it needs about £1 million spending on it and unless it's significantly upgraded some of the existing large chains, e.g. Debenhams, could possibly move out. These are the anchor tenants and if we lose them then the whole place will close down.

June said that parking in Bolton is "atrocious"!

Leilia asked about the ways in which the political parties function. How do we develop policies locally? In the past we used to involve the members in policy making and the Labour Group would, as far as possible, follow that policy. Cliff replied that we have more and more national policies, decided by the policy forums in which members can participate and these seem to have taken over from local policy making to a great degree. A lot of the money coming into councils from Government is "ring fenced" for spending in specific areas. Education and Social Services, which comprise by far the largest part of local government expenditure, come into this category. Because of this, national policy making makes sense but we do have to involve ourselves in the policy forums.

Further questions were asked on topics such as care of the elderly in their own homes and protection of the services for youth and social services and this was followed by a general discussion.

The Chair wound up, thanking Clifford for his time and input and members for participating in the discussion.

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