What's Labour done for me in Lambeth?

Alex Bigham from Stockwell's Labour Action Team has written an interesting blog about Labour's record in Lambeth that I thought was worth putting up here:

What has Labour done since getting elected and ousting the Lib Dems in 2006? Let's look at Labour's manifesto commitments in Lambeth, and see if they have met them, and what Labour inherited from the Lib Dem administration.

1. Your Council Tax kept down

Under Labour
In the 2 years since Labour came to power, council tax in Lambeth has only gone up in line with inflation. In the next 2 years, it will be lower or frozen if possible.

Under the Lib Dems
The Lib Dems raised council tax by 40% when they were in power – adding around £1,000 to your council tax bill.

2. Your safety improved

Under Labour
Labour has introduced safer neighbourhood teams into each ward in Lambeth, including Prince's, as promised. We cracked down on drug dealers in Brixton and in the last 12 months, violent crime in Lambeth has gone down by 50%. We're tackling the long term causes of crime by trebling the funding for youth services.

Under the Lib Dems
The Lib Dems were soft on crime, opposing measures to tackle criminals, and being on soft on drugs. They even let a fraudster walk off with £3 million of council money – and even tried to hush up allegations when one of their own councillors was caught stealing public money.

3. Your street bright and clean

Under Labour Labour is doubling the investment to repair roads and pavements. The number of street sweepers in Lambeth is going up and there are new street lights across the borough.

Under the Lib Dems
Pavements were left cracked and dangerous, and potholes were not repaired. They wasted millions on buying luxury office blocks and paying off staff, instead of repairing pavements and keeping the borough safe and clean.

4. Your child given the best start in life

Under Labour
3 new schools have been built in Lambeth, and major repairs and refurbishments are happening . Labour introduced the first ever Youth Mayor for Lambeth, elected and with a budget to spend on the services that young people want.

Under the Lib Dems
500 children were not allocated a school at all, a problem Labour sorted. The Lib Dems had the worst funded youth service in London.

5. Your environment greener

Under Labour
Labour expanded recycling in Lambeth, so you can now recycle more waste, like household food packaging. Lambeth now has the toughest carbon reduction targets in London.

Under the Lib Dems
The Lib Dems tried to limit your recycling options until Labour forced them to offer both orange sacks and green boxes. They slipped 60% behind the best councils and didn't let us recycle items that residents in other boroughs could and cut the regular garden waste recycling service.

Labour also had a separate housing manifesto - to make all homes in Lambeth safe, warm and dry. Under the Lib Dems, 10,000 homes didn't meet the decent homes standard. Labour has introduced a new management team - the ALMO called Lambeth Living to bring in £240 million of extra funding to make sure this happens.

We aren't complacent about life in Lambeth, but it's clear that things are better under Labour, and would be much worse under the Lib Dems.