Labour no show in Neath – again…
Posted on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 9:00am
10 responses
A PROTEST was organised yesterday by a cross section of care workers from the care homes that are being earmarked for closure by the Labour cabinet at Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. The Labour cabinet, quite simply, wants to create three super care homes in the area.
There has been much opposition to the plans. The fact that a ‘business option’ ( as quoted from the Cabinet’s very own consultation document) is being considered is a step too far for many local people, staff and residents, who see this as privatisation, plain and simple.
Questions over transportation to the new homes, the location of the new homes, and the future of staff have not been sufficiently answered, and people are angry that the Labour cabinet has gone out to consultation on a ‘preferred option’, as opposed to leaving the consultation stage wide open for new ideas. Anyway, the point of this blog post is this – at the protest today, people were asking for Plaid stickers to wear, and stating that they would not be voting Labour due to their actions on the council of late in pushing forward the plans above, as well as announcing the prospect of 750 job cuts in the public sector in the borough.
One of the care home staff who was organising the demo stated that a Labour party representative had promised to be present, but it was clear that they had not turned up. And so they decided to take the matter in to their own hands, and took the residents of the care homes and their supporters directly to Peter Hain’s office to seek some answers.
The fact that Labour and Peter Hain continuously fail to turn up to such events and support local people is insulting. It’s as if they are taking the people of the area for granted. But, things are starting to change and people are realising that Labour are letting them down. Certainly, I had this impression from Councillor Arwyn Woolcock, who recently stepped down as Deputy Leader of the Council in Neath Port Talbot in protest over a cabinet decision to close his local school, Ysgol y Glyn, in Lower Brynaman. He did not have a positive word to say about the Labour-run council. All I have to say to him is – why are you therefore still a member of that party?
The campaign is stepping up a gear in the area and Plaid, are active canvassing the area day and night. We are talking to people, and meeting them on their own terms while Labour seem to be too ashamed to show their faces.
