Brayshaw's Culture War

As the council set to pass its budget, the minority Green Party group presented an “alternative budget” of its own. The main idea was to eat into council reserves in order to provide free school meals for all pupils in the borough, “consult” on a 100% council tax discount for “the most vulnerable” residents as well as freezing fees for market traders and bringing back the ever-totemic bulky waste collection.

Labour group chief whip Stephen Brayshaw was having absolutely none of it, iPhone in hand, he launched a blistering if highly unoriginal rant against the greens, saying they were “more concerned with playing the part of a middle class elite than listening to the voices of our residents”, and going on to blather about Waitrose deliveries, lattes and the size of opposition politicians egos. How any of this criticism related to the actual alternative budget proposed by the Greens went unexplained.

Brayshaw also attacked the Greens for working from home while others “work two cleaning jobs to make ends meet”. Brayshaw’s Linkedin profile advertises a career in senior management in higher education, currently as a group curriculum director at New City College. On top of whatever he is being paid for that, he personally receives £15,523 special responsibility allowance as Chief Whip on top of his basic allowance of £15,960 as a councillor. What he didn’t mention about the Green budget was the proposal to save £180,000 by scrapping allowances for roles like Deputy Cabinet Members and Commissioners, if not for chief whips.

London is a city riven with inequality, but talking about small daily luxuries as if they are somehow life-changing might not be the political masterstroke Brayshaw thinks it is. Most of us have had a coffee or bought something from a slightly fancier supermarket from time to time; fewer of us will ever have managed anybody, made a speech in the council chamber, or approved a council budget.

While the £31,483 that Brayshaw receives from the public purse may be merely a top up for him, we suggest the hard-working-families-of-Newham might be served better if he engages with the detail of the proposals put before him rather than slagging off his fellow elected representatives.

Perhaps that is the real point of the exchange. The Greens proposed a series of policy changes, including savings from councillor allowances. The response, at least in this segment of the debate, focused instead on supermarket shopping habits and coffee choices. It would have been very easy for him to accuse the Greens budget of being financially irresponsible. Instead, he engaged in the rhetoric of “the culture war”. These are unstable times, and this is the last thing the people of Newham need.

Watch the clip below and judge for yourself.

In any case, we are sure that his tastes on the campaign trail will be suitably austerely proletarian. We recommend Pie and Mash and a nice cup of tea.

If Councillor Stephen Brayshaw wishes to clarify how the points raised in his speech address the specific proposals contained in the Green alternative budget, we would be happy to publish his response in full.