Unite the Union's strategy to shift Labour councils to the Left

Unite the Union, has adopted a "political strategy" paper which includes infiltration of left wing activists into the Labour Party to ensure that those it approves of are selected as Labour council candidates. It gives details of plans to exert greater clout in candidate selections both for MPs and also for councillors where it pledges:

"To develop and sustain a Unite Councillors network...We will ensure that Unite members are taking up the opportunities for Council candidacy."

Lots of "resources" will be devoted to encouraging their "activists" - with "training courses" and "individual mentoring". There will be support for "good candidates" from other unions.

To assist with the pool of Labour council candidates the Union has set a target of persuading an extra 5,000 of its activists to join the Labour Party.

So that's all very public spirited, isn't it? Good news for Ed Miliband?

Key facts about the 2011 local elections

By Matthew Barrett
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Yesterday Rob Hayward drew our attention to a House of Commons Library briefing paper, regarding the results of the local and mayoral elections in May. Summarised below are some key facts about the local elections contained in that briefing.

Conservative council seat facts:

• The Conservatives won or retained 5,108 seats, representing 58% of the total contested and a net gain of 85 seats
• The Conservatives have 9,400 councillors, 46% of the total councillors in Britain
• They control 51% of the total number of councils, including 96% of county councils and 69% of shire district councils
• They control two councils in Wales, but none of the 32 unitary authorities in Scotland
• In England, 51% of councillors are Conservative
• The Conservatives control 59% of seats in shire districts
• By contrast, in metropolitan boroughs, where one-third of seats were up for election, they won 22% of the seats
• They have no councillors on several metropolitan borough councils, including Gateshead, Knowsley, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Sheffield

Labour-run Newham Council spends £111 million on one office block

From the BBC London website:

A council in east London spent more than £111m on one office block, including more than £1,800 on individual designer lights, an investigation has revealed. In October the BBC discovered Newham Council spent £18.7m refurbishing its new back office, called Building 1000.

But documents released after a Freedom of Information request now show the total cost including purchase price and stamp duty was another £92m on top of that. During the project bosses spent almost £10,000 on five designer light fittings - at a cost of £1,853 each.

Local Government Minister Bob Neill condemned the spending as "scandalous" and "a monumental waste":

"Newham's justification that this vanity makeover was part of an efficiency drive is even more laughable now it emerges they spent nearly two thousand pounds on designer lights. How one of the poorest boroughs in the country managed to spend £111m on their offices is beyond my comprehension."

More here.

Newham is run by Labour, with the executive mayor and every single councillor represening the Labour Party.

Labour group leader on Bury Council attacks Royals as "parasites"

1.30pm update on Sunday:

Tory MP Andrew Percy has issued the following statement:

"Comments like this show how out of touch Labour politicians are with the rest of the country. While most people are pleased for the royal couple, and looking forward to next year, this is frankly disrespectful. Ed Miliband needs to distance himself from this councillor's comments."

By Jonathan Isaby

I am grateful to several councillors in Bury for exposing the outrageous and offensive comments that Mike Connolly (pictured), the Labour group leader on their council, has made about our Royal family.

Lib Dem councillor Tim Pickstone has recorded what Cllr Connolly wrote on Facebook on hearing of the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton:

"The Royal Family have no relevance at all... Will these multi-millionaire parasites be paying for their own wedding?”

Tory councillor in Bury, Sam Hurst, has blogged about the incident too and certainly speaks for me when he says:

"As a civic leader who is expected to uphold the virtues of tolerance, sensibility and decorum, and one who must represent all of his constituents and not a few, I think that Cllr Mike Connolly, East Ward, should withdraw his disgraceful, uncalled for attack immediately."

Last December a Labour council candidate was sacked for comparing the idea of marking the Diamond Jubilee in 2012 to "celebrating vermin".

Will Cllr Connolly be similarly disciplined?

Labour-run Newham condemned for "glitzy" £18.7 million office refit

By Jonathan Isaby

The London Borough of Newham is a one-party state with a directly elected Labour Mayor and 60 Labour councillors.

It is also the UK's sixth most deprived borough, and the Labour administration there seems to have a skewed sense of priorities.

The BBC reports that the council has spent £18.7 million on swanky new offices which have just won an award for being an "outstanding transformational workplace environment" whose "innovative, lively and colourful design contributed to a dynamic environment".

Look at the BBC report for pictures of the offices, which the TaxPayers' Alliance have described as "a glitzy refit" akin to that which "you might expect of a five star hotel or a West End nightclub".

Local Government Minister Bob Neill said it showed Newham Councillors were "living the ultimate Champagne socialist lifestyle on the taxpayer".

Labour councillors did not back Red Ed

We know that more Labour Party members supported David Miliband for the leadership rather than Ed. In terms of the campaign endorsements there is strong evidence that this was especially true among Labour councillors. There are just over 5,000 of them (compared to nearly 10,000 Conservative ones.) Over a thousand Labour councillors publicly endorsed David Miliband - while Red Ed's endorsements in this area were derisory.

Supporters of the elder brother have got a valid grievance that their voices were drawned out by the Party's trade union paymasters. Here are the names of the councillors who backed David so you have a chance to commiserate with them at the way their man was robbbed of victory in a travesty of democracy. I wonder if Ed will say to his elder brother, quoting Anastasio Somoza: "Indeed, you won the election. But I won the count."

Labour in Lancashire campaigns for the Royal Mail (but uses TNT)

Having recently reported that Labour's County Council Chairman was too ashamed of his Party to mention its name in his literature, news reaches ConHome of an unfortunate mistake by Labour's Campaign team in the county.

In a move branded as "amazing hypocrisy" by one recipient, Labour have today launched a massive direct mail campaign BUT at a time when many in the Labour Party are questioning the Government's attempts to modernise the Royal Mail, the Lancashire Labour Party have decided to employ the Dutch company, TNT Post, to deliver their campaign literature – postage paid.

Not only is this set to anger the Postal Unions, it is hugely embarrassing for at least one of the candidates featured, for Labours candidate in the marginal division of Penwortham South. In the South Ribble constituency, recently signed a petition entitled...

Keep The Post Public - building a modern Royal Mail
- This is from the Compass, Direction for the Democratic Left website

The candidate who signed the petition - Cheryl Ledward-Lee has also raised eyebrows as she signs herself "Penwortham local Campaigner" in the direct mails hot - a bit strange given that according to the petition she apparently lives miles away in another constituency, namely Chorley, and only two years ago stood in Leyland in a ward where she came sixth (out of six).

Tim Montgomerie

The senior Labour councillor too embarrassed to admit his party affiliation

The Labour councillor who is chairman of Labour-controlled Lancashire County Council is one Alan Whittaker and he is defending his county council seat - which he held in 2005 with a majority of, er, 7 - at the elections in June.

Yet he would appear to be somewhat embarrassed about being a member of the Labour Party at what is hardly his party's finest political hour.

Below are the two sides of his latest publicity leaflet, which fail to mention anywhere the fact that he is a Labour councillor (and the red rose is of course there as an emblem of Lancashire rather than the Labour Party).

Are there other examples out there of Labour councillors reticent about declaring their party affiliation in the run-up to the forthcoming elections?

Jonathan Isaby