Labour vs Conservatives - A heartless game that affects thousands of residents in Thurrock

At the Thurrock council meeting held on Wednesday 29th October a very important motion was to be heard. The motion was put forward by Labour councillor Gerard Rice.

At first it was a motion that looked to benefit and save Chadwell School but unfortunately for the second time running Cllr Rice had failed to word the motion correctly.

A simple motion stating – We the council wish to keep the school open and provide as much help as possible or take into account the views of the parents etc would have done but yet again a pigs ear was made of it meaning if the motion passed, the consultation would be stopped meaning that not only would the school NOT be saved it could lead to the school being closed!

The labour group all voted in favour and the conservatives all voted against, along with the independents and the sole BNP councillor meaning the motion did not pass.

This political point scoring charade should have been left behind so that the next motion could be discussed sensibly. A motion asking for the parking charge to be scrapped at Basildon Hospital.

Now any right minded person would think that all the councillors would vote in favour of scrapping the charge so that someone who has just had the unfortunate news of losing a loved one would not have to worry about finding the £6.00 (charge for 8 hours) to exit the car park.

The motion was put forward by the conservatives and given the backing it deserved from the independents and the BNP but the Labour group voted AGAINST the motion purely because the Conservatives had voted against the motion they had put forward.

This childish behaviour has now shown that the Labour group are a bunch of heartless robots that follow party political lines rather than putting first the people that pay their wages!

To make matters worse the next motion that was put forward by the Labour group asking for Freedom of the Borough to be given to the Thurrock Branch of the Burma Star Association caused uproar when the Labour group, independents and BNP were the ONLY councillors to vote in favor with the Conservatives all bar 2 voting against (2 abstained)

The only people to leave the chamber with any dignity were Barry Palmer, John Purkis and Emma Colgate – at least they voted across the group lines showing they are the only people on the council who have minds of their own.