Political Viewpoint

By Labour Councillor Daniel Cowan, Leader Of Southend City Council.

 THEY say a week is a long time in politics, yet the last few months have flown by.

 Since May, we’ve had a landslide General Election that saw Southend elect two Labour MPs for the first-time ever in Bayo Alaba and David Burton-Sampson. There have been mass resignations from Leigh Town Council, and in May, the Tories lost control of the City Council, resulting in a joint administration, which I am proud to lead.

 It may seem like a tired cliche for new administrations to blame financial and social difficulties on the politicians that they have replaced, but it is important that residents know and understand, what we – and you – have inherited.

 I pride myself on leading a Council that conducts itself with transparency and clear communication, so we need to look at where we are, how we got here, and what we can do.

 Firstly, the national landscape. The new Labour government inherited a £22bn black hole of debt. Consecutive Conservative administrations spent 14 years eroding public services, pilfering pennies from the poorest to put pounds into the pockets of the richest, and using public money to openly enrich their cronies and donors. 

 As an example, we only have to look at the public enquiry into the COVID contracts scandal, where the full scale of corruption is yet to be uncovered.

 Here in Southend, we inherited an appalling budget position from the Conservative administration. The projected overspend this year is £8.1m, with almost all of this figure coming from statutory services.

 This is support that we must deliver by law, in social care, waste disposal, temporary accommodation and more. Unlike the Tories, we will not weaponise the increase in complex cases of looked-after children, or adults requiring care. These costs are unavoidable, and we must – and will – meet the needs of our most vulnerable citizens.

 What we’re uncovering, daily, is how many new and avoidable problems the previous administration created with ham-fisted cuts to essential services. 

 For example, the grass cutting schedule. In May, we inherited a service that had stopped cutting the grass altogether, where 75% of staff had been cut by the Tories, and there was no managerial oversight because they scrapped the post.

 There was no plan, no team, no schedule, and no accountability. The Tories quite literally let the grass grow under their feet, and left us – and you – to suffer the consequences. Our administration worked hard to get the service back to where it should have been, but it took the best part of 3 months and significant investment to deliver the most basic service.

 The Tories promised they would save your weekly bin collections. They broke that promise. They voted for fortnightly collections when they were in power.  We, the new administration, are now left with no legal choice but to continue with their decision.

 After running the city into the ground with their collective incompetence, the local Conservative Party is now attempting to rehabilitate their image. They sacked the Leader, installed a new Leader, and now are trying to portray themselves as the changemakers who will fix what they themselves broke.

 I have always been clear that under my leadership, the Council won’t make grand, unfunded, undeliverable promises like the Tories did. Labour wants to build a city we can be proud of, and we are on the road to doing that with our joint administration colleagues.

 In a few short months of administration, supported by the budget amendments we implemented with foresight, we brokered a new deal to save Southend United after inheriting a Tory negotiated deal that gave us the choice of bankrupt the council or let the football club die. 

 We saved the Dementia Community Support Team; invested in the community safety team; repeatedly stopped libraries being closed; put extra money into grass cutting; put £6.5m into our roads and pavements, and have invested in tourism to deliver the brilliant events of this summer, and beyond.

 I, and my administration, believe that reducing individuals to pounds and pence is not the way that we want to represent our constituents; that investment in public services and in our people is what is best for our City and our collective futures.

 We are bringing forward a Civic Pride Action Plan to get the city cleaned up and restore pride in our city. Vital to this is our planned City Day Celebration for March 1^st 2025, and I’m excited to share more with you on this as it develops.

 It is time that we start investing in our city and having pride in where we live. It isn’t going to be easy to repair all the damage caused, and some of the choices we will have to make won’t be popular with everyone but, with your support, together, we can build a city we can be proud of.

Picture: Councillor Daniel Cowan, Leader Of Southend City Council.

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