Opinion, Watford Observer, 17 November 2024: 'Real credit' to ex-MP and council for Watford investment | Watford Observer
Well over £25,000 more per year. That is the calculation one Watford charity has made about the cost of Labour’s recent budget. Lots of local businesses face the same pain. After abolishing the winter fuel allowance for over 11,000 Watford pensioners, Labour is now increasing taxes on hard-working residents too.
We had at least hoped that they would announce that the redevelopment of Watford General Hospital was still going ahead. But nothing was said.
One small piece of good news in the gloom: the £16 million redevelopment of the Colosseum and Town Hall will go ahead. This plan had been championed by Dean Russell when he was our MP and he had put party politics aside to work closely with the borough council to secure this project.
So although the new Labour government and its local MP are now desperately trying to claim some credit for the project, the real credit belongs to Dean and the council.
The Labour government has played the same PR trick several times recently.
In the budget, it ‘announced’ funding help for local Watford schools with RAAC concrete remedial work even though this was already in hand under the previous government. Was it ‘announced’ simply to give our new Labour MP something to say in the absence of any news about Watford General?
But maybe something like this is the best we can hope for Watford General? Maybe that after unnecessarily holding up the project, the Labour government will eventually announce the redevelopment can go ahead in some form after all and try to claim the credit for themselves? It would be pathetic if all this uncertainty is just a PR stunt but it would of course be better than the alternative: that Labour has chosen to give their trade union paymasters big pay rises at the expense of the full redevelopment of Watford General and other similar projects.
Stephen Woodard
Chairman, Watford Conservatives
