Cllr Krupesh Hirani

Thoughts are with Friends, Family and Colleagues of Cllr Alec Castle

Cllr Krupesh Hirani — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:35:47 +0000

Unfortunately, Brent Liberal Democrat Councillor for Dollis Hill Ward Alec Castle has passed away.

Condolences to friends, families and colleagues of Alec.

I first met Alec around three years ago, before I was a Brent Councillor. Alec used to chair the Willesden Area Consultative Forum (usually hosted at the College of North West London) before me.

Guest Blog Post: Richard Lynch on the widening gap between pay and inflation

Cllr Krupesh Hirani — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:35:55 +0000

The gap between pay increases and inflation is continuing to widen, according to figures from the pay research organisations and the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figures for median increases during the three months to end October 2011 (with end September figures in brackets) show the following:

Income Data Services (IDS)-2.3% (2.4%)

Labour Research Department (LRD)-2.5% (2.5%)

XpertHR (formerly IRS)-2.0% (2.0%)

ONS figures for increases in the three months to end September 2011 (with end August figures in brackets) show:

Average total pay (including bonuses)-2.3% (2.8%)

Average regular pay (excluding bonuses)-1.7% (1.8%)

However, the ONS figures for the three months to end October (which are published later than the figures from the pay research organisations) show increases in average total pay falling to 2.0% and increases in average regular pay rising marginally to 1.8%.

None of the above figures go even halfway to matching October’s RPI increase of 5.4% and an average of all the figures shows that pay increases are running at less than 40% of price increases. This means that ‘real pay’ is falling for most people, and falling particularly badly for public sector workers and others experiencing pay freezes at present.

According to XpertHR, pay was frozen for 28% of workers in the three months to end October 2011, compared to 25% for the previous quarter. This situation is likely to continue for public sector workers next year and XpertHR is predicting that 10% of private sector workers will see their pay frozen in 2012 as well. And to add insult to injury, the coalition is now telling public sector workers that pay increases will be capped at 1% from 2013 and, if they succeed in introducing regional pay, millions of nurses, teachers, council workers and others will experience further cuts in their standard of living.

There are no such restrictions in the pay of Britain’s top bosses, however, and a recent report from the High Pay Commission showed that not only has their pay been motoring away ahead of ours, but some have enjoyed increases of up to and above 4,000% in the past 30 years.

Total pay for lead executives in BP, for example has increased by 3,006.5% since 1980 and has increased from 16.5 times’ average pay to 63.2 times’ average pay during that period. In Barclays, the total pay of lead executives has increased by 4,899.4%, with the multiple of average pay increasing from 14.5 to 75. The increase in Lloyds was 3,141.6%, with the multiple increasing from 13.6 to 75. Not bad for companies which have contributed more than most to either ecological or economic disasters over recent years!

Average total pay (including bonuses) is now £463 a week, according to the ONS, with average regular pay at £436 a week. LRD estimates that average full time pay is £618 a week. Average pay for the CEOs of FTSE 100 companies, according to the High Pay Commission, is £80,769 a week (£4.2 million a year). So much for all of us being in this together!

Richard Lynch is a Dudden Hill resident. He is a retired Unite the Union official and currently conducts voluntary work on employment rights for the Brent Community Law Centre. He also acts as an accompanying representative for the GMB union.

Cllr Hirani Slams Brent Tory Liberal Hypocrisy

Cllr Krupesh Hirani — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:34:18 +0000

I was absolutely dismayed at the level of hypocrisy shown by the Brent Liberal Democrats and Brent Tories at the Full Brent Council meeting this week. I tabled a motion at the meeting reading, “This Council condemns the £104 million cut to Brent’s Budget over the spending review period”, which Brent Liberal Democrat and Brent Tory Councillors failed to support.

While appearing to fight for local services they have adopted a peculiar position of apparently supporting the Coalition’s chosen method of cutting public spending which has led to more cuts to Brent’s Central Government grant than in other Councils.

There are two main arguments floating around as to why we have a large public debt. In short, one that it was a global economic crisis that led to a collapse of the banking system meaning that the Government had to borrow to stimulate the economy, bail out the financial sector and lost out on projected tax revenue income. The second that Labour public spending was out of control and is to blame for the country’s deficit and deficits of USA, Greece, Spain, Ireland, Germany, France and many more, which we have to pay for now.

Regardless of what line of argument you believe, I thought that all Councillors of all parties would be unified in condemning the scale of cuts to Brent compared to other Boroughs.

Even if you believe that the scale of cuts is necessary nationally and that the debt should be tackled within one Parliament (The Coalition Government’s original plan A on the economy), is it fair that Brent Council has to make cuts in the region of 27-28% of our controllable budget whilst other Councils are not being hurt as bad as Brent? Brent is losing out on £73 per resident whereas Guildford faces a cut of £10 a person and Richmond £5.39 a person.

If Brent Tory Liberal Councillors do blame Labour for creating the deficit, do they believe that people in Brent caused the recession more than residents from other areas and therefore should be made to pay and suffer more?

Barnhill by-election planned for 3rd May 2012

Cllr Krupesh Hirani — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:07:41 +0000

It’s an honour to serve at the London Borough of Brent with such a dedicated Labour Party activist in Councillor Judith Beckman.

Due to a change in personal circumstances, Judith is in the process of moving from Brent and therefore will resign from her position as Councillor for Barnhill ward in due course.

With less than 100 days to go until the London Mayoral elections on May 3rd 2012, it is only right that the London Borough of Brent has a by-election on this date in the interest of the Council taxpayer as this will minimise the cost to the public purse of having an election.

Judith will still be coming to Brent regularly.

Boris rejects Brent regeneration bid

Cllr Krupesh Hirani — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:05:34 +0000

Ealing Road, Wembley (Image by Route79 via Flickr)

At a Council meeting last November the Coalition parties made much of the Mayor of London’s Outer London Regeneration Fund so it comes as some surprise to see that both of Brent Council’s bids have been denied. Brent’s Lead Member for Regeneration and Economic Development, Cllr George Crane has expressed his disbelief that the Mayor has chosen to ignore the needs of Outer London’s most diverse borough.

Brent put in a bid for 1.65 million to continue the successful work started in Willesden High Road in an earlier bid agreed last year. The bid would have helped transform Willesden Green High Road by renting some empty shop units on a long-term basis. These would be used by emerging businesses to help employment and skills of local people. The other part of the bid was to improve the area around the Willesden Green Library centre and make it a focal point to showcase local creative talent. (For more info on Willesden project see http://willesdenwindows.com )

The second bid was for 1.8 million for Ealing Road between Wembley Central and Alperton. The programme was designed to promote Ealing Road to deliver physical, economic social and cultural benefits to Ealing Road, Wembley and Brent.

Ealing Road is already attracting high visitor numbers from around London and beyond with its unique style of Indian shopping experience.

Cllr Crane said

”All our neighbouring Boroughs have received money and it is difficult to understand why Brent has been singled out to have both projects rejected..

I will be asking Navin Shah, Brent’s London Assembly Member to raise this with Mayor Johnson and ask him to reconsider both Brent’s bids.”

Guest Blog Post: Richard Lynch on UK inflation – now the highest in Europe

Cllr Krupesh Hirani — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:33:35 +0000

The most recent statistics have shown inflation falling slightly but most UK prices are still rising fast and our inflation is now the highest in Europe. The figures for the year to end October 2011 (with end September figures in brackets) show the following:

Retail Prices Index (RPI)-5.4% (5.6%)

RPI excluding mortgage interest (RPIX)-5.6% (5.7%)

Consumer Prices Index (CPI)-5.0% (5.2%)

The modest fall in all indices came largely from falls in the cost of food (due to “significant and widespread discounting by supermarkets” and good harvests for certain produce), air fares and petrol. However, there were also significant upward pressures from increases in the price of clothing, electricity and gas.

Amongst the factors keeping the CPI annual figure high were increases in the prices of fuels and lubricants (15.4%), gas (24.1%), electricity (14.9%) and bread/cereals (6.2%). Factors affecting the RPI included increases in the prices of fuel and light (20.2%), tobacco (13.4%) and motoring (7.7%).

All of this helped the UK continue its climb up the European inflation league and, after passing out Estonia, our CPI has now become the highest in the entire European Union. Our 5% rate is head and shoulders above the EU average (3.4%) and the Eurozone average (3%). We are also well ahead of competitors like Italy (3.8%), Spain (3%), Germany (2.9%) and France (2.5%). We also have higher inflation than China (4.2%), the USA (3.5%), Japan (-0.2%) and Switzerland (-0.5%).

Who says the coalition is not capable of world-beating performances!

Update: November’s inflation figures have been published since the above article was written. They show the RPI down slightly at 5.2% and the CPI down to 4.8%.

Richard Lynch is a Dudden Hill resident. He is a retired Unite the Union official and currently conducts voluntary work on employment rights for the Brent Community Law Centre. He also acts as an accompanying representative for the GMB union.

UK Government debt reaches £1 trillion under Tory Liberal Coalition’s economic plan

Cllr Krupesh Hirani — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:19:14 +0000

Figures out today show that debt under the Tory Liberals has increased and passed the Trillion Pound mark.

Graph obtained from Coffee House Spectator blog

The Tory Liberal approach to tacking the budget deficit, cutting too far and too fast without having a plan for growth has already produced high levels of unemployment, growth revised downward from 1.6% under the Labour plan to address the deficit to 0.6% under this Tory Liberal plan.

Unemployment has not been this high since David Cameron was an advisor to the Thatcher Government. In addition, youth unemployment is having a damaging impact on our next generation.

Inflation is also higher than in previous years with the cost of living rising and the Government making things worse by increasing VAT. All this further supports Labour’s call for a five point plan for jobs which I have blogged about in the past here – LINK.

A Liberal approach to attendance as a third of Lib Dem Councillors go AWOL in the middle of last night’s Full Council meeting

Cllr Krupesh Hirani — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:19:00 +0000

Less than two thirds of the Liberal Democrat Group attended the Council meeting on Monday 23 January 2012. By the end of the meeting only five Liberal Democrat councillors were still in attendance.

Historically the Liberal Democrats have always had a liberal approach to attending meetings with the worst attendance of any of the three parties represented in the Council Chamber, especially when they are in opposition.

However, on this occasion their absence follows their crushing defeat in the Wembley Central ward by-election. What’s more is that attendance figures on the Council’s website will not reflect the fact that certain Councillors left the meeting half way through.

The Labour Leader of the Council, Councillor Ann M John, OBE lambasted the Liberal Democrats for their absence.

Councillor John said:

”Every councillor receives a basic allowance of £7,974 per annum and as a basic minimum they are expected to attend full council meetings. How can they expect to represent their constituents if they are not here?”

Guest Blog Post: Richard Lynch on the worst unemployment for 17 years

Cllr Krupesh Hirani — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 06:30:46 +0000

The announcement, earlier in the winter, that 80,000 people had applied for the 18,000 temporary Christmas jobs advertised by Royal Mail, showed how bad unemployment has become under the coalition – and the latest Labour Market Statistics have confirmed it. These showed, amongst other things, that there are now more people out of work than at any time since 1994, when John Major was Prime Minister, and that youth unemployment is now higher than at any time since the 1980s, when Thatcher was in power. And all the indications are that it is going to get worse.

According to the statistics (which mainly cover the quarter to end September 2011):

Overall unemployment increased by 129,000 to 2.62 million, or 8.3% of the economically active population, the highest figure for 17 years.
The number of people unemployed for over a year increased by 31,000 to 868,000 and the number unemployed for over two years increased by 13,000 to 422,000.
Unemployment amongst 16-24 year olds increased by 67,000 to 1.02 million, giving a youth unemployment rate of 21.9%. This is the highest youth unemployment has been since 1992 when current records began, but previous records suggest that the figures haven’t been this high since the mid 1980s.
The number of economically inactive people (not included in the unemployment statistics) increased by 64,000 to 9.36 million, or 23.3% of 16-64 year olds.
The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) increased by 5,300 to 1.6 million, giving a claimant count of 5%.
The number of job vacancies increased by 7,000 to 462,000, leaving 5.67 unemployed people chasing every vacancy. Haringey in north London (where the summer riots began) is the hardest place in Britain to find a job, with 22.6 dole claimants chasing every vacancy. Lewisham in south London is the second hardest place to find a job, with 21.9 claimants chasing every vacancy.

The coalition is blaming everybody but themselves for this disaster and is shedding bucket loads of crocodile tears for unemployed youth in particular. Their Work Experience Programme is supposed to help young people into work by providing unpaid work experience in supermarkets and other big businesses to young JSA claimants. However, it has recently emerged that anybody accepting an unpaid placement on this scheme will have to continue working for eight weeks, for their JSA payment only, unless they opt out of the programme in the first week. And if they do leave, they can have their Jobseeker’s Allowance cut. So much for slavery being abolished!

*Update: October’s statistics have been published since the above article was written. These show that unemployment has risen again, by 128,000 to 2.64 million.

Richard Lynch is a Dudden Hill resident. He is a retired Unite the Union official and currently conducts voluntary work on employment rights for the Brent Community Law Centre. He also acts as an accompanying representative for the GMB union.

Dudden Hill Lib Dem Councillor moves to Brighton, but it’s business as usual for Dudden Hill Labour

Cllr Krupesh Hirani — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:32:35 +0000

The Willesden and Brent Times has reported that one of my co-Dudden Hill Councillors, David Clues is living in Brighton.

A statement from Cllr Clues can be found here (LINK). If he is genuinely moving in transition and moving to and from Dudden Hill and Brighton, making appointments to see residents and available to contact through phone email and post and can make it work, then fair play to him.

After coming a miserable fourth in the Kenton by-election (behind even an independent candidate) and seeing their vote collapse in the marginal Wembley Central by-election less than a month ago, I’d be surprised if the Brent Liberal Democrats called a by-election. Instead they will be sweating away if it gets close to six months and Dudden Hill Lib Dem Councillor, David Clues has not attended a Council meeting, which is the minimum requirement for him to keep his seat.

Residents have been raising this to me for a while but I was personally uncertain of his whereabouts. I’ve just gone about my own business in representing my people in the way that I best see fit and not bothered to worry about the Brent Liberal Democrats and I will continue to do so. Calling a by-election is in the hands of Lib Dem hierarchy and Cllr Clues, so Aslam and I will go about our own business.

In October 2011, a Dudden Hill resident approached me and said “Looks like we’ll have a by-election in the area soon”. “No I said”. He was shocked when I told him, as long as he turns up to a Council meeting every six months, he can keep his seat.

Dudden Hill residents on Twitter said:

“This is ridiculous. Where are his loyalties?”

“This is disgusting. What, if anything, can be done to oust him?”

“I think it’s shocking to be honest”

Another tweeted:

“He’s pocketing 7K which he will of course pay back… #Git”

I recently spoke to an ex-Councillor who once represented the Neasden area who said that David is a ‘left’ thinker and will probably in the inside be dismayed at what the Liberals are doing in Government. I predict that after he ceases to be a Brent Councillor (that is if he doesn’t run for election again in 2014), he will not be renewing his Liberal Democrat membership in Brighton.