In Swindon, the Tories Have The Audacity To Question Labour's Education Priorities - But Then Get Their Own Numbers Wrong!

Like many Councils across the country, Swindon Borough Council is now controlled by a monopoly of Tories. Since they took control in 2003 the people of Swindon have seen a Park and Ride site close, a Women’s Refuge shut down, local libraries closed and funding to a number of community groups slashed.

So when it comes to Tory motions at Full Council you would expect them to focus on what the administration is doing to improve services and make Swindon a better place. Not in Swindon. In Swindon we have an administration that indulges in political point scoring and attacking the town’s two Labour MPs, Anne Snelgrove MP and Michael Wills MP. Forget the fact that they don’t have the decency to speak with the MPs face-to-face for a second; surely this is missing the point of the Council’s responsibilities.

This week is no different. Two Tory backbenchers have tabled a motion regarding per pupil funding in Swindon, claiming that children in Swindon are funded significantly worse than others in England.

Firstly, there is the sheer audacity of the Tories in complaining about education funding when in 1997 per pupil funding in Swindon stood at £2,960 compared with today’s figure of £3,913, rising to £4,079 next year.

Secondly, they can’t even get the figures right! The motion reads:

“This council further notes with regret that under a Labour Government Swindon receives among the lowest funding per pupil for education in the country, the 17th lowest funding per pupil for education in England, only £3,913 guaranteed funding per pupil against an average of £5,410 last year in England, with some London Boroughs in excess of £6,000 per pupil.”

Well, the figure they quote as an England average is actually the figure for the average in the UK. This includes Scotland and Wales, which the Westminster Government has no control over. The actual figure for the average per pupil funding in England in 2009 is £4,218, a lot closer to Swindon’s figure.

Swindon’s grant has also increased by 13.4% since 2007 which is the 31st highest increase out of 149 local authorities. The grant is worked out based on the deprivation in an area and population density, Swindon suffers with pockets of deprivation and it is ludicrous to compare it with London Boroughs like Tower Hamlets and Hackney that rightly receive higher funding.

Swindon Labour Group’s Education spokesperson, Councillor Fay Howard, sums it up well:

"This motion could make it more difficult for Swindon to get funding. It is potentially damaging and based on flawed figures."

What really sticks in the throat about this is that on the one hand we have a Labour Government that has built 18 new schools in Swindon since 1997, refurbished many more and will have increased funding by over £1,000 per pupil by next year, while on the other hand we have the Tories who reveal with mouth-watering glee that they will slash 10% from the education budget, close two Sure Start Centres in Swindon and the two Tory candidates in Swindon are opposed to building a University.

Our children’s education is only safe in Labour’s hands, if for no better reason than the Tories can’t even count!

Willie Bain Labour's New MP for Glasgow North East

Congratulations to Willie Bain, Labour's new MP for Glasgow North East.

As with defeat, there are important lessons to be learned from victories - and this was an expected, though reassuring, success.

Labour devised and stuck to a strong strategy in Glasgow. With a local candidate and a lively grassroots campaign, it played to Willie Bain's strengths - and the party's. It was built around Willie's personal narrative and won through comfortably in the end.

Glasgow's was a much better campaign than the one in Norwich North, where much of the message was anti-Tory and top-down; this was a campaign much more based on local issues and local people.

The result was that, in continued difficult circumstances nationally - and in spite of early fear that this could be another swing away from Labour of Glasgow East proportions - Labour held one of its safer seats with a majority of 8,111 and nearly 60% of the vote. Meanwhile, the Tories were unable to make any ground in Scotland.

But there are worrying signs, too. Turnout was just 33%, low even for a by-election, and the lowest turnout in Scottish by-election history. If Labour cannot come up with the policy to mobilise its base in the general election, we will have severe problems.

And the BNP have gained more traction than in any previous Parliamentary election in Scotland, with over 1,000 votes.

So we cannot pretend that this victory constitutes a turning point: the national polls remain dire for Labour; Glasgow is after all a traditional Labour heartland; and seats like this will not in any case decide the general election.

But what this win does do is to open the general election campaign proper on a very positive and motivating note. It shows that Labour can still generate passionate activism on the ground - and translate that into votes when it matters. In a longer, more considered campaign than the snap-elections in Glasgow East and Norwich North, Labour prevailed. It should be used as a springboard for energy toward the big one next spring.

Willie Bain said yesterday that his victory was a "great endorsement for Gordon Brown in his efforts to set the economy back on track and it shows election is very much game on."

Few would wholeheartedly agree that this was a full endorsement of Labour or the party's economic policies - but it is certainly game on.