Basildon council leader Gavin Callaghan reflects on Labour Conference and why local government reorganisation is key to beating Reform
Gavin Callaghan is a Labour councillor and leader of Basildon Council
This year’s Labour Party Conference might have been branded by some in the media as “depressive”. From a local government perspective, it was anything but.
Instead it was refreshingly radical.
We are constantly told that nothing works, that the system is broken and needs to be ripped up and started again. The people attracted to Reform are not looking for tinkering around the edges but they want big changes. And here we are, in Labour local government, actually delivering exactly that. We are showing that the radical change people crave does not come from shouting on the sidelines, it comes from rolling up our sleeves and rebuilding our communities from the ground up.
There is big structural change coming through Local Government Reorganisation. There is a clear commitment to take the handbrakes off planning so that we can finally deliver the homes and infrastructure this country needs. There are also huge sums of money leaving Whitehall and going directly into town halls through programmes like Pride in Place.
What’s not to like?
This is the kind of agenda that has the potential to change lives in communities like mine in Basildon. Because while Westminster chatter can sometimes feel far removed from people’s daily struggles, the truth is that all politics comes back to where people live, their streets, their parks, their schools, their local jobs.
And in Basildon, we are living in the eye of the Reform UK storm.
Think it through. You are a white van man in Basildon. You wake up at 4am. You open your curtains and the streetlights have been turned off. It is a coin toss whether your van is still on the drive. If it is, it is a lottery whether your tools are still in it.
You set off at 5am and drive down roads laden with potholes that have not been filled since last winter. You pull up at the traffic lights and on one side is a bus stop covered in graffiti, with the public bin overflowing. On the other side is a central reservation full of overgrown grass.
You drive into London and you are hit with ULEZ, congestion charge and astronomical parking fees. You get home at the end of your shift, turn into your street, and there is a dumped mattress and fly-tipped rubbish that still has not been picked up.
Over dinner your missus tells you about the hazardous walk to school, dodging dog poo while teens hang around on scooters and bikes shouting at parents. At the end of the month, you are taxed more than ever before. On the first day of the next month, you see your council tax direct debit leave your account and it is higher than it has ever been.
It is not hard to see why that guy feels the state has failed him. And this is all before we have even talked about whether his kids have a fair shot at a local job, or the chance to own or rent their own home. It is before we have even mentioned whether his local boozer or community centre is still open or been closed. It is before we have even considered whether the play equipment in the local park is brand new or being ripped out because it is too dangerous or whether the local police station has been shut, sold and is now a building site ready for more flats to be bought up by the Home Office to become asylum seeker accommodation.
All those frustrations, every single one of them, are the result of fourteen years of systematic underfunding of local government. All those cuts made by Cameron, Osborne and Pickles have consequences. Those consequences are now manifesting themselves in support for Reform UK because of communities that have lacked the love and care needed.
But here is the thing. They can be fixed. And they can be fixed by local government.
The Pride in Place programme funding announced by Labour last week is a strong start. It recognises that when people see their neighbourhoods improved, when the graffiti is cleaned, the parks are safe, the fly-tips cleared, and the community centres reopened, they feel a sense of pride again. They feel that government is finally on their side.
We will need more, particularly on the revenue side, where councils need sustained funding to keep delivering basic services day in and day out. This is where the next step lies. This government must use the momentum from this conference, where local government has been front and centre of the ‘build, baby, build’ movement, and follow it up in the Budget with more cash for councils.
That is how we fix the problems facing the Basildon white van man.
Do that, and we will beat Reform.
If people see visible change in their communities, if his wife feels safe walking to and from school, if the fly-tip is not blotting the landscape, if local conversations are about things opening rather than closing, that white van man will feel more positive and he will reward Labour.
Beating Reform is within Labour’s gift. And the way to do it is through local government.
This week’s Labour Conference shows we are finally being listened to. Now it is time to follow it up with the investment and the action that will make life visibly better for people on the ground.
Local government is where the soul of our country will be won or lost. And with the right support, we can deliver the change that our residents have been waiting for a renew Britain.
Left Foot Forward doesn’t have the backing of big business or billionaires. We rely on the kind and generous support of ordinary people like you.
You can support hard-hitting journalism that holds the right to account, provides a forum for debate among progressives, and covers the stories the rest of the media ignore. Donate today.
