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Healthy school meals for children are an important priority |
In difficult times we cannot afford a ‘do nothing’ council
Cllr Catherine West, leader of Islington’s opposition Labour group, looks at opportunities for providing leadership in the coming year
AS we look to the new year in Islington, it is time to think about how we respond to the tough economic times we are all facing.
The impact of the credit crunch will be felt in every part of the world. We have just faced a Christmas of belt-tightening and there is uncertainty about the future.
Hard-working people in Islington are crying out for a fair deal. There is no quick fix, but everyone should be doing their bit to make things a little easier – Islington Council included.
Despite what you might read in the expensive and glossy council PR that falls through your letterbox regularly, Islington Council has been paralysed in the face of the global economic crisis.
Instead of holding an urgent meeting to help local residents, senior Lib Dem councillors took a break, causing their finance chief to resign in disgust.
The hopeless Lib Dems then introduced an economic package so weak that councillors from all parties united to support a Labour alternative that massively increased the amount the council will spend helping people.
We cannot afford a do-nothing council under the Liberals – we need leadership in a crisis, and I’m proud of the extra support we got for advice services and support to keep people in their homes during the downturn.
Like many people, I have sat down with my family to check our budget for the year ahead. It’s healthy to make some savings and ask whether we’re really spending our money on what we need.
I think it is time that we did the same with the council. Islington Council is an economic heavyweight in the borough and it can make a real difference, but only if it spends your money right.
Last year, readers of the Tribune heard how internal fighting has left the Liberal Democrats without a majority of the council. While the Lib Dems still – just about – run the borough, this means that we can sometimes force Islington Council to do the right thing.
Now is a good time to look ahead at some of the opportunities we have to provide leadership and make a real difference for working people and the hardest pressed in our neighbourhoods.
Our first opportunity will be the council’s budget in February.
The budget will be a time to ask questions such as whether we really should be spending more than £2million on publicity for the council. After all, that cash could be spent on real services, not wasted on glossy PR.
The council should be looking at bold moves to help hard-working people.
I am a passionate supporter of free school meals. Not only do they ensure school children get at least one good, healthy meal a day, but a well-fed child is a child who learns better in class. Free school meals are an investment in our children’s future.
Under Islington’s current system, it can be complicated to apply for free school meals, and it isn’t always clear who qualifies – too many children don’t.
This is the worst of all worlds. Islington’s school meals system is failing those who most need it because of the lack of take-up, and there are many families who would benefit from free school meals but don’t qualify.
As we look at the council’s annual budget I want to see a serious expansion of the scheme, to make it available to many more of our children.
Not only would such an expansion improve the take-up of healthy school dinners by reducing bureaucracy and taking away the stigma attached to the scheme, it would also mean that more children receive healthy, nutritious school meals.
All children in Islington deserve a fair start in life, and measures like this could make a real difference.
It is frustrating to be an opposition politician in Islington. We are witnessing the messy collapse of the Lib Dem administration, but still do not yet have power within the council.
But over the next year, and as the elections approach in just 16 months’ time, we will take what opportunities we can to cut waste and put money where it is most needed – working on the side of ordinary people in the borough.
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