Just Why is a Cabinet Member Introducing a Motion on His Area of Work?

Political motions can be used for a variety of reasons.

At their best, they can influence policy and the direction in which the council moves; they can highlight issues that have been hidden; they can generate a change of thinking.

That is at their best. What we see on Newham Council is generally political posturing and virtue signalling.

Usually, motions are brought to council by backbenchers or opposition members. It is their way of getting a neglected area onto the agenda. What is much rarer is to see a cabinet member, a member of the executive, bringing a motion about his own area of responsibility albeit an area that will overspend by £25m-£50m by the end of the year. 

However, this month we are treated to Cllr Shaban Mohammed introducing a motion on Temporary Accommodation. Which is bizarre, as Cllr Mohammed is the cabinet member responsible for temporary accommodation. Normally we would hope to see the executive member presenting a report with his proposed solutions to the problem, but that no longer seems to be in fashion.

It will therefore come as no surprise to learn that this motion falls into the ‘political posturing’ category. The reasons for the overspend, that he never actually acknowledges, are “14-years of funding cuts”. 

This has a nice ring. It's “not my fault” and “the Tories are to blame”.

In addition, we learn from clause 7, that “For the thousands of families and children homeless and living in temporary accommodation, this is having a devastating impact; and exacerbates insecure livelihoods, poverty and limits life choices. In these challenging financial and economic times our first priority is to ensure Newham remains financially stable, and provide stability for our people in Newham.”

This is interesting. It mixes the “stability for our people” with the financial stability of the council. Clearly there is a connection, but his link is to join the wellbeing of the families in temporary accommodation with the wellbeing of his portfolio.

We see in the only action point, that all they are going to do is ask for more money from the government, (Newham Needs Mk 2?). It is plausible that Labour councils will get more in a redistribution of the government pot, but does he really expect an additional £50m for temporary accommodation? 

There seems to be a complete absence of responsibility or consideration that, as the cabinet member, he might do some work on the policy that has created this situation.

“The Council Resolves to: Campaign and work with central government so that Newham Council is supported to address the highly complex TA situation in the borough and London through policy interventions and finance to resolve the housing market supply, and deliver homes that people can afford.”

What we see is political posturing where there should be political action.