Labour's Darren Paffey Does Not Answer Our Questions - 2024 General Election Candidate for Southampton Itchen

 

Darren Paffey is the Labour Candidate for Southampton Test at the 2024 General Election. Until May 2024, he was a Councillor on Southampton City Council and was the Deputy Leader of the Council to Southampton Test candidate Satvir Kaur. Paffey was first elected in 2011 and lost his Peartree ward seat in 2015, being re-elected in Bargate in 2016.

Given the closeness between Darren Paffey and Satvir Kaur as Deputy Leader and Leader, it is not difficult to see that Paffey was also heavily responsible for the near bankruptcy of Southampton City Council. Like Kaur, he was in the Cabinet for a long time, and an accomplice to the spending mistakes of Labour councillors that controlled the Council for over a decade.

This near bankruptcy, called a Section 114 notice, that Kaur publicly claimed was a "lie" is a reality faced by the Council and taxpayers, despite the reality of the situation faced by the Council before, during and after she was Leader and Paffey was Deputy. 

Kaur and Paffey, with Labour councillors leading the cheer, led the Council to the precipice of bankruptcy. Despite Kaur's claims of a "lie", other officers and councillors were left on the sinking ship:

• together making financial decisions in the Cabinet of the Council for eight years, with Paffey having entered the Cabinet in 2015 and Kaur in 2013. Like Kaur, Paffey bailed in 2023, months before Kaur resigned, but only after the enormity of the financial crisis was clear.
• the Chief Financial Officer warning of the Section 114 notice and then leaving
• the Government now having to help to bail out the Council
• the Chief Executive Officer resigning around the same time that Kaur resigned as Leader
• Kaur's successor as Leader Councillor Lorna Fielker having to deal with the sinking ship that Satvir Kaur and Darren Paffey had both abandoned, having both been selected as Labour Parliamentary candidates. Fielker then asking the Government to raise Council Tax by 15% but trying to hide this request from the public who would pay, until it was revealed in a Council public meeting.
  

Does this sound like rats leaving a sinking ship? Southampton residents will have to decide for themselves when they cast their vote. 

Kaur and Paffey were in the Cabinet together for eight years, spending a huge amount of public money in the process. This is the legacy that they left Southampton councillors and the Council officers with.

If this is the mess that Kaur and Paffey left as Councillors, what damage could Satvir Kaur and Darren Paffey do as Members of Parliament?

Backbench MPs have very little power over spending. If either Kaur or Paffey is elected, perhaps the taxpayer will be grateful for that.

But imagine what damage they could do if either, or worse still, BOTH actually got their hands on a Government Department with a huge budget?

Would Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer allow them to be a Minister, given Kaur and Paffey's disastrous background with Council money?

With Labour Satvir Kaur and Labour Darren Paffey's record, it is a worrying prospect for the people of Southampton and for the rest of the country, should the people of Southampton elect either of them.

And especially so given their failure to respond to the questions that we sent to both Darren Paffey and Satvir Kaur. These were sent to all candidates with contact details available.

1. Why are you standing in this General Election?
2. Why are you standing for the <insert party or independent here>?
3. What will you do in the first 100 days if elected?
4. What do you think are the best top 5 policies of your party?
5. What do you think are the top 5 issues that Southampton people want addressed, and what do you intend to do about them?
6. What track record do you have of winning campaigns?

 

Why Southampton Independents Is Covering the 2024 General Election

Southampton Independents recommends no particular candidate in the 2024 General Election. We publish this information and the information about the other candidates to help inform Southampton residents for their vote, or for them to choose not to vote or to positively spoil their ballot by writing "none of the above". It's your choice.

The other candidates for Southampton Itchen with their answers to our questions are here.