Labour's New Highway Robbery by Tyrant Sadiq Khan in London - And How It Was Stopped in Southampton

Labour's Highway Robbery in London

 

Desspite resistance from London residents, Labour's tyrannical Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has carried on regardless, and imposed an expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) across the whole of Greater London. 

This is despite Labour losing the Uxbridge by-election to the Tories after the resignation of the disgraced former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was MP for the Uxbridge constituency. 

The Conservatives have claimed that the ULEZ policy is the main reason for them narrowly winning, in the context of losses in other by-elections and disastrous opinion polling with the Conservatives trailing Labour by over twenty percentage points in some polls. The Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer has distanced himself from the ULEZ policy and called for a debate over the policy.

Commenting, former Southampton Independents councillor Andrew Pope has written to the Daily Echo with the following letter:

Former Councillor Andrew Pope on BBC South
on the defeated Elected Mayor plans

"Campaigning works. I feel sorry for the people of London who have had this measure imposed on them without a Referendum. The people should decide, not a tyrant Mayor of London. That's why I campaigned for a Referendum on similar measures proposed by Labour-controlled Southampton City Council.

The same fate could have befallen Southampton if the Labour-run Southampton City Council had not u-turned on their plans in 2018 after I called for a Referendum, as reported by the Daily Echo. 

I also asked questions in private and public of Council officers and again in public to the former Leader of the Council, Christopher Hammond, who resigned following Labour's defeat in the 2021 City Council elections. Hammond refused to rule out charging.

Over the last few years, including over recent weeks with the expansion of the ULEZ, residents and visitors have thanked me for campaigning against the Labour plans for Southampton. This includes new residents of Southampton who told me that they would not have moved here and contributed their work and businesses if Southampton had vehicle charging.

 

I'm also delighted to have led the campaign in Southampton to stop our City from having an Elected Mayor like Sadiq Khan. Again, as reported by the Daily Echo, I was the only Southampton councillor opposed to it with the Labour and Tory councillors voting for it like the party puppets that they were - and still are - placing their parties over the people once again.

 

I have noted Tory Hampshire County Council Leader Rob Humby calling for support for new devolution and a new split with other councils in the Region. Do these party politicians want an elected mayor? It is unclear, but they need to be honest and tell the people if they are proposing it.

 

Residents do not want another party puppet with too much power and that's what elected mayors are.

 

Sadiq Khan in London, Marvin Rees in Bristol and Joe Anderson in Liverpool are three key examples of why elected mayors are bad for residents. There are many other examples.

 

Labour and the Conservatives support elected mayors and the concentration of power to one individual. They support elected mayors because they want it for the benefit of the parties and not for the people of Southampton, London, Liverpool or Bristol.

Labour or Tory, same old story.

Residents do not support having an elected mayor - that's why Bristol residents voted in a Referendum to scrap Marvin Rees and the role of Mayor and why Liverpool has also rejected having an elected mayor. Councillors in Liverpool made that decision - a Referendum would also have led to the scrapping of an Elected Mayor.

Councillors made that decision to try to quell widespread corruption in Liverpool Labour and Liverpool City Council. Having an elected mayor failed. The damage had been done.

I'm pleased to see the rise of independent councillors in Liverpool and moves by residents  for the same in Bristol. In Croydon, bizarrely after Labour brought the Council to bankruptcy, they now have an Elected Mayor, who is a Tory and is now seeking to impose massive council tax increases on residents, when it was Labour councillors - and a Tory Government's Draconian cuts - that caused the bankruptcy. The residents were not to blame, but they are the ones suffering.

Like Liverpool has had, Croydon has had and Bristol has had, Southampton residents have had a Labour-led Council for too long that has brought the City of Southampton to its knees and to the brink of bankruptcy - something which the current Leader Satvir Kaur denies.

Having an elected mayor in Southampton, Portsmouth and across our Region - with even more concentrated powers - would make things even worse."

 

Leader of Southampton City Council Satvir Kaur Denies Bankruptcy - Just Like Labour Councillors Did in Bankrupt Croydon Council

 

Councillor Satvir Kaur Bankruptcy "Lie" Claim
Daily Echo Website, 20th May 2023

The Labour Leader of Southampton City Council, Councillor Satvir Kaur, has told the Daily Echo that:

"Unlike Hampshire County Council we are not facing bankruptcy. To say otherwise is a lie and political opportunism."

As confirmed by local investigative reporters Inside Croydon, when we asked them about Satvir Kaur's claim:

"Funny. That’s what @CroydonLabour leader Tony Newman said in Oct 2020"

Like Councillor Kaur, Tony Newman, the former Labour Leader of Croydon Borough Council in London, also repeatedly denied a financial crisis. Newman shortly after resigned in October 2020, having plunged the Council into bankruptcy, later with the councillors left having to call Government commissioners in. Labour councillors were voted out. 

Now Croydon councillors want to put the Council Tax up by 15%! And the Tory Government - with the help of Croydon Labour councillors caving in - is going to let them do it! 

Residents are being robbed by Labour and Tory councillors, yet it was no fault of the local residents.

Labour or Tory, same old story? You bet it is!

The Dead Labour Rose of Southampton

Did you know that Southampton Council is in such a dire financial situation? Labour councillors including the Leader of the Council are in denial, but financial experts have repeatedly warned them.

Labour councillors don't want you to know. So we are telling you.

Did Councillor Kaur know? She should, shouldn't she, in her role? 

As well as calling the bankruptcy claims by her own Chief Financial Officer a "lie", Satvir Kaur also denied to the Daily Echo knowing about a report by the External Auditor, Kevin Suter of Ernst and Young. Mr Suter's report issued a warning to councillors that the Council is running out of money, at a public meeting of councillors on 24th April 2023 called the Governance Committee.

Satvir Kaur told the Daily Echo: 

"she was 'not aware' of the report".

Yet somehow, the Leader of the Council did not know about this worrying independent auditor's report to councillors. How can that be? She is supposed to be the Leader!

The Council auditor's warning follows another financial expert, the Council's former Chief Financial Officer warning councillors of a lack of money and then quitting the Council in February. A new Chief Financial Officer was appointed by Councillor Kaur and her Conservative opposition leader.

Does it worry you that this is the same person, Mel Creighton, who resigned last year from Liverpool City Council (another Labour Council) amid controversy over financial management? In its report, the Liverpool Echo cited a £16 million energy contract disaster. 

Does it worry you that prior to joining Liverpool City Council, Ms Creighton was the Chief Financial Officer at Southampton City Council?

Knowing all of the above, do you have confidence in Labour to run the City's finances? As reported by Southampton Independents, an independent report last year told councillors that the council was not being run properly.

Do you think the Council has spent wisely? As investigated and reported by Southampton Independents, we know that it has not, and has wasted millions if not billions over the last decade. 

Residents were shocked and angry when we told them what the Council and its councillors had done. They voted for our Independent candidates in the local elections and General Election, which we were grateful for.

Did you know that Labour has been in control of the Council for 10 out of the last 11 years? The other year was the Conservatives running the Council, whose national Government, now with Rishi Sunak as its latest Prime Minister, has slashed funding for councils and in May's local elections, lost over 1,000 seats.

Residents tell us very often that it's another case of Labour or Tory and the same old story. Do you agree?

Are you happy that the Labour-run Council has put up council tax again this year, when the cost of living is so high? Are you struggling to pay your bills? Do you get value for money for your council tax? Do you get value for money for your income tax that goes to the Conservative Government?

Contact us at the link here to tell us your views. You can also comment below.

This is why Southampton needs Independent councillors, like it used to have a few years ago.

UPDATE (9/6/23): "Trust in police hanging by a thread" says Inspector - Lies, Damned Lies and Police Commissioner Statistics

 

Southampton People's Decreased Trust in Police
2021 to 2023

UPDATE (9th June 2023)

"I can't recall a time when the relationship between the police and the public was more strained than it is now," Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Andy Cooke has told BBC News.

Under the headline

"Trust in police hanging by a thread, inspectorate says"

the Inspector said that:

"Time is running out if the police and the government are to restore public trust in policing".

The credibility of Donna Jones, the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), is also hanging by a thread, given what she has told Southampton Independents:

"I have not seen a dip in trust & confidence of local officers in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Constabulary"

Donna Jones Election Leaflet May 2021

---

by Andrew D Pope, 12th May 2023

Now that the local elections are over and the Conservatives have received another beating, we can reveal more facts about the public's views of the Police and the desperate tactics employed by PR people to hide the truth.

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones - for brevity's sake let's just use "PCC" - has denied when questioned by us that there is a trust and confidence problem in our local Police.

This is despite people here in Southampton, in Hampshire and nationally telling survey after survey that they have decreased trust and confidence in the Police. This is not a new thing, it is a long-term trend. Yet Ms Jones and her staff want you to think otherwise.

Their false PR and spin is despite the view of the Police sinking further in the public eye following the false arrests made of anti-Monarchist protesters and Monarchy supporters alike.

When the PCC's public relations officers responded to questions about this topic, they have resorted to very dubious tactics.

But now the Head of Communications of the Office of the PCC has made claims that are possibly even more laughable and lacking credibility than those made by their employer, Ms Jones the PCC.

Under pressure to justify the untruths written by the PCC, the officer has pointed us to Yougov surveys specific to Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

The officer has laughably pointed to an increase in trust - not over the period of time that Ms Jones has been PCC - to now since May 2021, but during just two months in late 2022 when there was a brief and very small uptick in trust. 

As you can see from the graph above, the overall trend from 2021 to 2023 is a marked decrease.

Be in no doubt that the overall trend is a decrease. The Yougov statistics prove it. And what residents have told us backs it up.

People have decreased trust in the Police over the time that Donna Jones has been the PCC.

This is why we asked Ms Jones about it, but it seems that Ms Jones is in denial.

We wonder what the Deputy PCC thinks about this. Former Portsmouth Tory Councillor Terry Norton was very outspoken when he was a councillor, including accusing other councillors of being hypocrites (e.g. Full Council on 9th November 2021, shortly before Norton was appointed and announced that he would step down as a councillor).

Perhaps he will have something to say about Ms Jones' claims and the desperate tactics of her PR staff to defend her?

Mr Norton was appointed as a colleague of Ms Jones. As people elsewhere in England have discovered to their shock and annoyance, there is no proper procedure for appointing Deputy PCCs.

It has tended to mean mates from the same political party being appointed, and it appears that Mr Norton's elevation to this publicly-funded role was no different to elsewhere. 

Competence is not relevant. The public being served is not relevant. What matters to party politicians like Norton and Jones is access to public money and spending it in the wrong ways, all to assuage their egos and their party, instead of what they are supposed to do, which is public service.

We will continue to bring the truth, instead of PR spin by officers who are paid for by public money, and the guff spouted by councillors or other elected representatives.

Yougov Survey - Public Confidence in Police At Record Lows But Local Tory Police Boss Thinks Otherwise

 

Standing Up for You

by Andrew D Pope, 20th March 2023

The majority of the public have no confidence or not very much confidence in the Police, new data from survey company Yougov has shown.

Yet the Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones thinks the opposite. Only last week, we exclusively revealed her answers to our questions about this very topic. She said:

Donna Jones Election Leaflet May 2021

"I have not seen a dip in trust & confidence of local officers in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Constabulary"

Residents have since got in touch with us to disagree with Ms Jones. They thought that her claims were laughable. Ms Jones was elected almost two years ago as PCC for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, the area for which she was the Conservative Party candidate. 

Decrease in Confidence Proved By Yougov Surveys

We asked Ms Jones these questions due to concerns raised by lots of people in Southampton, over years, about their decreasing confidence in the Police and the increasing number of media stories about the misconduct of Police.

And it is not just in Southampton. Nationally, Yougov have shown a decrease in confidence.

Confidence in the Police has dropped by 10%

From the graph, you can see that confidence in the Police has dropped in less than two years.

The proportion of people who had a lot of or fair amount of confidence has dropped by 10%.

And in the opposite direction, 10% more people had not very much or no confidence.

The Detail of the Drop in Confidence in Police

Every month, Yougov surveys a representative sample of the country's population, approximately 1,700 adults. In the 6th March 2023 data, they found that:

• The majority of the public have either no confidence (17%) or not very much confidence in the Police (37%) - giving a total for the majority of 54% of people
  
• the lowest proportion of the people surveyed since July 2019 had a fair amount of confidence (34%) 
• the proportion of people with a lot of confidence in the Police was 4%
• 8% of people did not know when asked.
  

When Ms Jones was elected in May 2021, the respective figures were:

• 10% and 34% have no or not very confidence - giving a total of 44% then versus 54% now
  
• 43% had fair confidence - versus 34% now
  
• 5% had a lot of confidence - little change
  
• 10% of people did not know - little change
  

So during Ms Jones' reign over two years, confidence in the Police has decreased significantly.

So unless Ms Jones has evidence that the people of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight think differently to the rest of the country, her assertion is wrong. We have asked Ms Jones for evidence to support her claim.

EDIT: 21st March 2023 Updated with graph to make the changes clearer.

Holding Power To Account

EXCLUSIVE: Hampshire Police and Crime Boss Denies Public Loss of Trust in the Police - Do You Agree With Her?

 

Donna Jones Election Promises from May 2021

"I have not seen a dip in trust & confidence of local officers in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Constabulary" says Donna Jones, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC)

"People sort things out for themselves around here."  said two police officers, outside a Southampton Police Station.

Elected to Represent The Public - But Has She?

Do you agree with Ms Jones? We would say that it is unlikely. 

The PCC is there to represent the public. Well, that's the theory anyway. 

But is Ms Jones representing you? Has she kept her promises from before she was elected as the Conservative Candidate?

Policing Before, During and After the Pandemic

What we have picked up from the public over many years of listening to them is that they feel let down by the Police. People feel that when they needed the Police, that they were not there. 

Many of the words that were used by the public in relation to the performance of the Police are not repeatable without asterisks. And trust us - we know, because we spent a lot of time listening to them. 

The most shocking thing we ever heard though was from a pair of Southampton Police Community Support Officers, literally outside a Police Station in Southampton. We told them what people thought of the Police from our doorstep conversations and from public meetings:

"People sort things out for themselves around here." the PCSOs said.

Yes, really. Are you surprised? Are you disappointed?

That was before the Pandemic. 

The negative perceptions of the Police got worse during and after the Pandemic. 

And since then, the public feel that they cannot even trust the Police. Worse than that, some people feel that the Police themselves are a danger to the public, with many high-profile examples - and not just in the Metropolitan Police as claimed by Ms Jones in her response, which you can see below. 

Would you agree with those other members of the public and their concerns over the Police?

Holding Elected Representatives To Account

So Southampton Independents stands up for residents and so we submitted questions to Ms Jones, having listened to the concerns of the public and following the recent revelations in Ms Jones' own report to the Police and Crime Panel. 

Not Just One Bad Apple...

It was revealed in Ms Jones' report to the Panel over the investigations into Police officers, based on the figures from Hampshire Constabulary:

"23 Police Officers were currently under investigation, facing allegations of sexual impropriety and/or domestic abuse were suspended on full pay from the Constabulary."

The Panel, which mainly consists of Westminster party-based councillors, is supposed to hold the PCC to account, outside of elections. Well, that's the theory. Have you even heard of the Police and Crime Panel? We doubt it.

Some people have tried to suggest that it is just "one bad apple". That is not the case, simply from the above but it is added to by the following concerning facts.

We already knew about the misconduct hearings published by Hampshire Constabulary on their website. Did you know about these? These are only the ones who have been caught. How many more are there? The suggestion by Ms Jones that it is just the Metropolitan Police is misinformation and misdirection.

And the lack of trust in the Police is even more concerning when Hampshire Local Democracy Reporter Natalie Ferero reported recently that:

"Nearly all formal allegations against Hampshire Constabulary officers resulted in no misconduct action last year. Of the 1,938 allegations made and considered formally, 1,867 (96 per cent) resulted in no action being required against the police officers involved."

So you can see that is not just "one bad apple". This is not to say that there are not good officers. There are. But trust is undermined when there are high numbers of high profile cases when trust was already low before the Pandemic. And the numbers are too high, surely?

PCC Does Not Answer Most of Our Questions

Ms Jones failed to answer most of our questions on behalf of the public, preferring to throw the questions over the fence to Hampshire Constabulary. The full questions and answers (and non-answers) written by former Southampton councillor and now NCTJ-trained journalist Andrew Pope, via Southampton Independents, are below.

Former Southampton Councillor Andrew Pope

 

Is Donna Jones Making Hampshire Safer?

Ms Jones was elected in May 2021 to the role of PCC. Her election promises (see image above taken from her own campaign website) were made under the headline "My Plan to make Hampshire & IOW Safer" and were:

1. 600 more police on the beat
2. An open and accountable force
3. Use new technology to combat rural crime
4. Community contact points throughout the county
5. Crack down on knife crime
6. Stop crime before it happens

Do you think that Ms Jones has kept her promises?

What do you think of the Police?

Do you think trust in the Police has gone down, up or stayed the same?

Get in touch to let us know your views - contact details are here.

 

Questions to Donna Jones from Southampton Independents

"1. How can the public trust Hampshire Police, and give consent to the Police, when so many Police themselves clearly cannot be trusted?

I believe police officers can & should be trusted and we have thousands of police officers & staff who uphold the highest of standards. Trust & confidence in the MET police has been damaged following recent high profile national cases concerning the conduct of police officers, however I have not seen a dip in trust & confidence of local officers in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Constabulary.

 

2. What have you done to regain trust of the public in the Police and what evidence do you have that your measures have actually increased trust?

I haven’t seen a need to regain trust as there hasn’t been a decline in trust & confidence in the police force here in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

 

3. Why is the number of officers under investigation so high?

Please contact Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary for this information in relation to their staff.

 

4. How many officers have been formally disciplined since you became PCC? And why?

Please contact Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary for this information in relation to their staff.

 

5. How many officers have been dismissed since you became PCC? And why?

Please contact Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary for this information in relation to their staff.

 

6. Why and how is it that 96% of allegations resulted in no action, as reported by Ms Ferero?

Please contact Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary for this information in relation to their staff."

 

Labour Bankrupts Croydon Then Allows 15% Council Tax Increase - Could It Happen in Southampton? Yes. Here's Why...

Croydon Labour's Rose Is Dead

 

Croydon Borough Council in London voted this week to hit residents with a FIFTEEN PERCENT INCREASE TO COUNCIL TAX!

by Andrew D Pope, 10th March 2023

 

Co-Founder of Southampton Independents
and Former Independent Councillor Andrew Pope

 

Croydon Labour Makes Residents Pay For Labour Bankrupting Croydon

This massive increase to council tax bills is during:

• a cost-of-living crisis for citizens
  
• with inflation running at record levels
  
• energy bills through the roof
• mortgages doubling for many people 

And all with "Southampton boy" Rishi Sunak's Conservative Government running the worst-performing economy in the G7 of industrialised nations. It is no wonder that the Conservatives are so far behind in the opinion polls, given their atrocious record in Government. And it is no wonder that the Southampton Conservative Leader Councillor Dan Fitzhenry declined to comment, when we gave him the opportunity to defend the Conservatives locally and nationally.

But are Labour any better? No, they are not. The evidence is clear from Croydon, from Liverpool (more later) and here in Southampton. Southampton Council's own outgoing Chief Financial Officer issued the warning last month, and then left almost immediately after as exclusively revealed by Southampton Independents.

Labour or Tory, Same Old Story

As reported by Inside Croydon, Labour councillors abstained on the vote to allow the Conservative Elected Mayor to bring in a 15% increase to council tax. They had previously said that they would vote it down, but they caved into pressure, instead of standing up for Croydon residents.

It was Labour councillors that had allowed Croydon to slip into bankruptcy over years. They were running the Council. 

Previously, the Conservative Government brought in a law meaning that a Referendum was needed for council tax increases of 5% or more. But the Tories now are welching on that protection for citizens. It seems that the Government is going to allow Croydon Tories to impose 15% on citizens. That is not democracy. It is undemocratic, because the people of Croydon do not want it as proved by a heavily-backed petition.

 

Croydon Does Not Have A Functioning Democracy

It was Inside Croydon and local citizens - and not other media outlets - who exposed the Labour councillors for the charlatans that they are. Not only did Labour and Tory councillors let Croydon residents down, other media outlets did too. 

This is what passes for "democracy" in Croydon, with a failing Council, failing councillors and officers and local media who were not reporting on what mattered. It was only Inside Croydon, founding member of a community news network, that exposed the full truth.

Effectively, unelected bureaucrats were brought in from Whitehall (called an Improvement Panel) to take over from the failed councillors. 

So Croydon became not a democracy, but a bureaucracy imposed from Central Government, because councillors had abrogated their responsibility to represent the people and protect public money.

Then Labour were voted out, somewhat unsurprisingly, and an Elected Mayor was voted in, who is a Conservative. He claimed, somewhat echoing former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, that "there is no alternative" to the 15% increase.

There are alternatives, in the decisions made, in spending priorities, in alternative budgets and in alternatives to the Westminster parties. They are called independent councillors. But Croydon has no independent councillors.

Croydon Labour councillors did not bring forward an alternative budget. If they had, perhaps they could have salvaged some respectability from their previous bankrupt decisions.

But they did not. Instead, by abstaining on the vote, they allowed the Tories to knife the public yet again.

So it is the people of Croydon who will be bailing out the finances of Croydon, caused by councillors who failed in their public duty to look after the public finances of the Borough.

 

Could It Happen in Southampton? 

Yes it could... Why and how?

Southampton Independents has reported on Labour-run Southampton City Council ever since we were formed. We have shown that they have spent public money on the wrong things, while neglecting the City and the priorities that residents want money to be spent on. I resigned from Labour because they were making the wrong decisions for Southampton and co-founded Southampton Independents.

We have reported on Southampton Labour councillors flogging off public land below market rates, and failing to get maximum value for the taxpayer. And doing it in secret, behind-closed-doors.

We have reported on the way they appointed senior officers in secret and handed out a fortune of public money to those senior officers while the finances of Southampton slip towards bankruptcy.

We have reported on the weak Conservative Opposition, who had control of the Council for just one year. Councillor Dan Fitzhenry as Leader of the Conservatives declined to comment when we asked him about his alternative budget. He did not have one. Yet we understand that Fitzhenry is telling his Conservative colleagues that they could take control of the Council in the all-out elections in May.

When you have a weak and incompetent Leader like Councillor Satvir Kaur, and a Cabinet that is clueless, with an Opposition that seems more like a cheerleader, it is the public that suffers.

That is exactly what happened in Croydon.

And in Liverpool too, also run by Labour... but more of that another time.

 

What Will Happen in Southampton?

If Labour continue with control of Southampton City Council, they will have to plug the financial blackhole that they have created, with the help of Conservative councillors and the chaotic Conservative Government that has slashed grant funding to councils since 2010.

One way to do that is to cut spending.

 

Can't Pay Won't Pay

Another is to put up council tax. They have already put it up AGAIN this year.

I have written to Southampton City Council Leader Councillor Satvir Kaur to offer her a right of reply. She has not responded.

I have also warned her that any such attempt to raise council tax along the lines of her Croydon Labour colleagues, will be resisted.

In Croydon, they have already began a "Can't Pay, Won't Pay" campaign and thousands of residents have signed up.

Could it happen in Southampton? Yes it could. Will it? We will see.