Cllr Kober and the HDV

The left-wing of the Labour Party is trying to claim credit for defeating the right wing of the Labour Party in the battle over the soon-to-be-late and unlamented Haringey Development Vehicle. 

Meanwhile Cllr Kober is complaining that her exit and the likely failure of the scheme are down to a corps of bullying and sexist fanatics who have taken over her Party.

Neither is choosing to mention that the scheme is about to fail because of its inherent flaws, and that those flaws were first effectively exposed and opposed, not by "democratic socialists" or by "the great unwashed" (according to ones preference)  but by a group of Liberal Democrat Councillors a year ago.

It was those Liberal Democrats who got the Council's Scrutiny Committee to call in the scheme, who revealed that £2 billion in Council assets was to be wagered at one go in a property venture for which the Council had no experience or competence, that it could easily end in ruin if the property market declined.

It was those Liberal Democrat Councillors who made it known that whether the scheme succeeded or failed, the price of that scheme would be payed by  the people who would be kicked out of their homes with no clear promise as to when or where they would be able to return.

It was thanks to those Liberal Democrats that opposition took hold and spread beyond the Opposition Group.

It is thanks to the Liberal Democrats calling an extraordinary meeting of the Council that at last ALL members of the Council have finally be got the opportunity to vote the scheme up or down.

And it is the Haringey Liberal Democrats who have worked out how to apply £148 million to the building of new council and affordable homes. The details are here https://ldharingey.nationbuilder.com/haringey_lib_dems_announce_148...

In May, the voters will have a choice. They can choose a one-party state run by a dysfunctional  Labour Group which is split between dabblers in development schemes and intolerant practitioners of 1970s-style gesture politics - yes Cllr Kober's allegations ring true even if they don't explain the reasons for her fall.

Or the voters can choose the Liberal Democrats, who actually do the hard work of seeing that the Borough is properly run and that affordable and council homes are actually built.

I know what I will choose.

David Schmitz

Liberal Democrat Councillor Harringay Ward 2010 - 2014

PS The full Council meeting which the Liberal Democrats obtained will take place at the Civic Centre on the 7th February at 7:30 pm. Please turn up and let your voices be heard.