It was impossible to see the latest budget meeting at Bradford Council and not feel both angry and secondhand embarrassment at the ruling labor group. Over the past few years, the council's leadership has been a slow car accident. Ramping out financial mismanagement, wasteful spending by millions, and a children's services scandal that still embarrasssssssssing our district today.
Still, the meeting did not have the 1 ounce of pain on display.
Instead, Susan Hinchcliffe, the council leader supported by all Labour councillors in Kayley and Ilkley constituencies, rose to his feet and instead voted to pay the price of their mistakes.
It was a total reminder of how I didn't get in touch with the leadership of the Bradford Council's labor group.
Others condemned the Congressional tax hike on the costs of children's services. Excluding the fact that these costs spiralized as a direct result of catastrophic false misconduct in children's services, council leaders were found to have “put the child at risk of harm” and were stripped of their children's services in 2023 following the report of the murder and dunning of Star Hobson.
Nowadays, hardworking residents are set to pay the price.
On the ground, local charities and organizations have warned me of the devastating impact of this vote.
Keighley's Good Food Shop says the increase will put more Keighley people in poverty.
The local Salvation Army reported an increase in people who came to them, “I don't need food, but do I have blankets?” At the same time, local services have been cut, waste and recycling centres are closed, and the council is currently considering selling key assets such as Ilkley Lido and Keighley Market.
This is not the platform where Labour stood before the general election. Kiel's Starmer promised, “Your council tax isn't even better.”
And now, even some labor councillors are leaving. Last week, former Bradford Labor Councillor Marcus Dearden resigned, calling his former boss “dictatorial” by saying “it's difficult to be part of a Bradford Labor Group where leadership is no longer heard.”
Julie Lintern, another former Labor Councilman in my constituency, removed the whip to vote for the recent disastrous tip closure.
Therefore, there is clearly corruption in Bradford Council. It is a culture of arrogance, secret, financial recklessness, and a complete lack of accountability. A series of moral and political failures. Millions of pounds were wasted and the children failed.
And if labor is not responsible, the people must instead be accountable to them. At the end of the Bradford Council's budget meeting, all other political parties, including our hardworking local conservative councillors, voted against these increases.
But they were more than a few.
And unfortunately, this will continue as long as Labour has a majority in Bradford Council.
We all need to make it clear that the only way to put an end to this series of failures is to vote for the Labour Councillors in the next local election.
The hardworking taxpayers of Keighley, Ilkley, Silsden and The Worth Valley rely on it.
