What A Way To Lose Local Government Elections In England?

Thousands of teachers in England have warned that there is a crisis in schools caused by the lack of money given to them by Government. 

 

by Victor Cherubim-2019-05-05

• 2019-05-05

 

Trust in politicians, in their ability to create change for the better in peoples’ lives, has been shaken recently both in Sri Lanka and now in Britain, particularly in England at the Local Government elections held on 2 May 2019.

 

With more than 8000 (a total number of 8773 seats) due for election in England and Northern Ireland as well as 248 Councils, everyone knew the result before polling day, as both the Conservatives and Labour parties had hardly delivered on their promises.

 

The Conservative (government) lost face as there was a link between squeeze on budget funding for Local Government with the loss of so many local services, let alone the dissatisfaction centring around Brexit. The Conservatives lost over more than 1300 Councillors and control of over 16 Council up and down England mostly to the Liberal Party and to the Greens.

 

The Labour Opposition was down around 80 seats and out of power in 3 Councils. This was due to their lack of drive displayed at the Local polls, avoiding contest tactically, by not wanting to test their strength in all their available seats.

 

The Liberals made notable recoveries, gaining 703 seats and recovering in areas where they were strong before the Coalition years. While small parties, like the Greens and Independents did well at the expense of the major parties and UKIP lost 145 seats.

 

Out of tune with the mood of the country?

 

The turnout in local government elections is always low as voter perception of apathy is given as excuse. But this time round there really seemed to be a “disconnect” between politics and their everyday lives.

 

After 9 years in Government, the Conservatives seem to have lost a significant number of seats or share of the vote. Call it “tiredness” or any other name, but there are serious other reasons. They may blame their defeat on the failure to deliver Brexit. We will hear more in the European elections later this month.

 

Warnings not taken seriously

 

The High Street is in crisis, people haven’t got the purchasing power any more. We notice an increase in boarded up businesses, charity shops and pubs particularly, on our high streets. Some famous names have announced a wave of closures in recent months. Behind the alarming trend of retailers, restaurants, banks and other businesses that are downsizing their “bricks and mortar meltdown,” are also people speaking about encounters in streets, in schools.

 

Crisis in Schools due to funding?

 

Thousands of teachers in England have warned that there is a crisis in schools caused by the lack of money given to them by Government. Nobody talks about schools being forced to sell their land, stop teaching certain subjects and reduce the number of people they employ. More than 7000 heads of schools according to verifiable reports, have written letters to 3.5 million families to raise awareness of the problems they face.

 

The issue according to them in their schools is all caused by lack of funding from Government. Almost a third of all secondary schools in England are run by Local Councils. They maintain that they haven’t enough money to pay for everything they need. The number of schools with debt problems has almost quadrupled in four years. School Debt is money owed to someone else. A child taking their GCSE’s this year will have seen an increase of around £6,500 across their education since the age of three.

 

A Government spokesman has said that school funding will rise from about £41 billion in 2017 to £43.5 billion in 2019/20.

 

Consumption Fatigue?

 

The average person in UK buys 26.7 kg of new clothing each year. It is the world’s third most polluting industry after oil and plastic. It is fuelled for cheap low-quality price sensitive clothing.

 

Clothing factories are mostly in poorer countries due to cheap labour. Clothing factories release toxic bleach pesticides and dyes into the environment whilst wasting huge amounts of water, which in the years to come will be a very scarce resource in developing nations.

 

Does any of this have an impact on our lives in Sri Lanka in the future?

 

With the throw away society in the West coming to realise in the not to distant future the value of wearing a garment and consumption fatigue sets in, we in Sri Lanka need to think and plan years’ ahead. We are already warned in the West that if consumers think they will not wear a garment at least 30 times, they will hardly buy cheap clothing?

 

We should expect and prepare for a meltdown of our own cheap Clothing factories in the outskirts of our big cities, as people abroad will refuse to buy the garments we manufacture now?

 

We must cater for upmarket, luxury clothing.

 

Our economy depends on three things now. First, the foreign exchange received from expatriate labour. Secondly, our tourist trade and Thirdly, our export of Garments abroad.

 

We need to seriously downsize our dependence on the cheap Garment trade in the years to come and divert attention instead to high tech industries?

 

This takes years of advance preparation. We need this to plan ahead?