Campaign Against Fiaz Car Tax Gets Personal
Campaigners have targeted those councillors who voted to retain the Fiaz Car-Tax, (emissions-based charges) and noted that Mayor Fiaz needed the votes of some 24 of those who received Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs). SRAs are the top ups, sometimes three or four times the regular councillor’s allowance that councillors can receive for taking on particular responsibilities.
Unlike the system in Wales’ time when councillors getting a full time SRA payment were expected to work full time on council business, several of the SRA holders manage to hold down two “full-time” jobs at the same time.
Campaigning local residents have suggested that those who voted for the tax will suffer when the next election comes. Other Labour strongholds have suffered losses when the public has been taken for granted as parking schemes and charges have been imposed on them.
(We’re not completely sure that they have identified all the SRA holders correctly, but you get the idea)
The photos hide the reality that Labour wards are splitting on this issue on geographical lines; The west and south are following Fiaz, the north and east are hostile. What should worry Mayor Fiaz is that these are the wards that got her selected.
Where West Ham members were parachuted into East Ham wards, they must also be looking for safer seats elsewhere.
Councillors in five wards are solid for Fiaz.
Six wards are solidly against.
Nine are split:
Four wards are 2:1 to Fiaz
Five wards are 2:1 opposed.
It is evident that she has lost control of her Group. After three years, she is only able to hang on because she can ‘bribe’ sufficient members (with SRAs) to vote for her proposals.
In the wake of the Iraq War in 2003, some 23% of the electorate swapped their Labour votes to George Galloway’s new party, Respect. Labour’s share of the vote dropped to 40%.
Either side of the 2006 local elections Labour took 50% of the votes in 2002 and over 60% in 2010. The demographics suggest that the same community that abandoned Newham Labour in 2003 are threatening to do the same in 2022. Having secured a majority in Labour Group, Fiaz can now go ahead and implement her new parking tax. She might have been able to strong-arm half a dozen council colleagues. This is unlikely to work on the electorate. But what does she care? She doesn’t expect to be there any more.
Nice one Roxy. It looks like you are doing more to undermine Labour in Newham than all of the other parties combined.