Last night I delieved my final political speech as a Croydon Councillor, after 12 years representing the good people of Coulsdon.
You can watch it here, with the transcript below.
After twelve years in this chamber, this is my final political speech here.
I have seen a lot in that time.
I have seen ambition.
I have seen regeneration.
And I have seen this Council driven into bankruptcy by a Labour administration that refused to listen.We warned them.
We warned them about reckless borrowing.
We warned them about turning the Council into a property speculator.
We warned them that Brick by Brick was a gamble dressed up as regeneration.They did not listen.
More than £200 million poured into a wholly owned company. Loans not repaid. Losses year after year. Audit failures. Government intervention. Three Section 114 bankruptcy notices. £1.4 billion of debt.
Local people are still paying for it.
And now, astonishingly, we hear the Labour Mayor Candidate talk of sweeping Compulsory Purchase Orders. Of council-led development. Of “keeping options open”.
Let’s call it what it is.
Brick by Brick 2.0.
Labour want to bring it back from the dead.
A reported £200 million Monopoly gamble in the town centre. Seize the land. Borrow the money. Roll the dice. Hope the market behaves.
Will they never learn!
We have lived through that nightmare before.
It is not bold. It is not visionary. It is financially delinquent.
Compulsory purchase on that scale transfers every single risk onto the taxpayer. Legal costs. Compensation. Holding costs. Market downturns. Delivery failure. All of it lands on a borough that is still clearing up Labour’s £1.4 billion mess.
And here is the uncomfortable truth for those opposite.
At Budget Scrutiny last week, officers were clear. There is no alternative to this Budget. No credible and costed different path we could take.
Labour cannot vote against this Budget because Labour have nothing to replace it with.
No detailed vision.
No deliverable strategy.
Just reheated ideology and nostalgia for the very approach that broke Croydon.Labour are not credible in this borough.
They are not ready to be trusted again.
Since 2022, under Mayor Jason Perry, this Council has stabilised its finances. Accounts signed off. Investor confidence returning. Responsible regeneration under way. Hard, unglamorous, disciplined work to restore pride in this borough.
That is Conservative leadership in action.
That is competence, implementing hardwon lessons from a local businessman.
And that is why the choice facing Croydon in May is so stark.
Continue the recovery.
Or hand the keys back to those who have not learned a single lesson.
For twelve years I have stood in this chamber and warned where Labour’s recklessness leads.
Croydon paid the price.
Now we are rebuilding.
There is lots done, but so much more to do.
I have seen what happens when prudence is ignored. I have seen the cost of political recklessness.
Croydon is back on track.
It must never return to the chaos that broke it.
And with Mayor Jason Perry and the Croydon Conservatives at the helm, it never will.
