Steve welcomes Croydon’s new Labour council

Steve Reed MP has welcomed Croydon’s newly elected Labour council.  Labour won seats from the Conservatives right across the borough as voters handed Labour 40 seats to just 30 for the Conservatives.  The result brings to an end eight years of Tory rule at the town hall that has seen council tax hiked up to record levels and millions wasted on new offices while basic services like street cleaning, house building and schools were left to deteriorate.

Labour aims to halt Croydon’s decline and get services working properly again.  Labour councillors have pledged to freeze council tax until 2016 and clean up the streets left filthy with litter and fly-tipping because the Tories refused to act against those responsible.  Labour has backed the resident-led Croydon Streets Commission which called for more prosecutions against fly-tippers, free collection of bulky waste, improvements to street sweeping and recycling, and a review of bin collections after Tories cut the service from weekly to fortnightly.

Labour will also oppose any further cuts in police numbers, campaign to protect Croydon University Hospital’s A&E, demand Government funding to tackle the growing shortage of school places, and take action against slum landlords who leave tenants to live in squalid and overcrowded accommodation.

Speaking after the results were announced early on Friday morning, Steve said; “I’m delighted that voters have placed their trust in Labour.  I offer my congratulations to Tony Newman who becomes the new leader of the council, and my commiserations to the outgoing Conservative leader.  I have been impressed by Labour’s positive campaign and their clear ambition to make Croydon a better place to live.  Croydon residents saw through the negative Tory campaign and have voted for change.

Now the campaigning has ended the hard work begins, and one of the new council’s top priorities must be to clean up local streets left so filthy under the Tories.  Residents deserve better, and now at last there’s real hope things will change.“