Campaigning Liberal Democrat candidate David Schmitz has published his ‘Seven pledges for Seven Sisters’ – the seven key issues that will form his top priorities if elected on 15th January.

David Schmitz’s seven pledges are:

1.Push for a full enquiry into the state of Haringey’s Children’s Services and the death of Baby P – no more Labour cover-ups

2.Freeze Council Tax – give hard working families a break from rising bills.

3.Halt the privatisation of the Laurels Health clinic – let local people have their say.

4.Keep in touch all year round – and listen to local people

5.Save Wards Corner – don’t let Labour bulldoze our market.

6.More police on our streets – Labour are planning to reduce police numbers.

7.Clear up local grot spots – crack down on overflowing bins, graffiti, litter and dumping.

David Schmitz has been the most active of the challengers to Haringey Labour. Haringey Council is run by Labour, with 32 councillors to the Liberal Democrats 25. No other party has any councillors.

“I have spent much of the last few weeks talking to local residents and asking them about their concerns,” says David Schmitz. “These seven priorities form the heart of my campaign, but I am finding lots of issues on the doorstep. I want to hear from local people about all the issues that matter to them, right down to their own street.”

Residents can write to David at FREEPOST LON11153, 100 Uplands Road, LONDON, N8 9BR, or at david.schmitz@haringeylibdems.org

Last night Haringey’s Labour councillors rejected calls from the opposition for a series of re-inspections of Haringey’s services.

The request follows the admission by chief inspector, Christine Gilbert, that Haringey officials misled Ofsted during a key inspection. Council services have been subject to thirteen separate inspections over the last few years and the Liberal Democrats want re-inspections to find out whether other inspectors were also misled.

Haringey opposition leader, Councillor Robert Gorrie, and local MP Lynne Featherstone are now be writing directly to the heads of government inspectors to request re-inspections.

Commenting, Councillor Gorrie says:

“Council officials provided misleading information to Ofsted inspectors only weeks after Baby P died.

“The culture of secrecy and cover-up is endemic in Haringey Council. It is extremely unlikely that its Children’s Services are alone in misleading inspectors or councillors.

“Now that the Labour Council has failed to recognise the significance of providing misleading reports to government inspectors, we will be ourselves to ask for a blanket re-inspection.

“Local residents need to be confident these inspections provide an accurate report of the services provided by their council.”

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey & Wood Green, adds:

“These are critical services affecting the everyday lives of thousands of very vulnerable people in Haringey. Inspections play a vital role in allowing us to make sure these people are getting the service they deserve.

“How can we trust any of these reports? We need to start again with re-inspections across the board to start rebuilding confidence in these key services.”

The new leadership in Haringey starts in the same vein as the old one ended with Haringey Labour refusing a raft of measures proposed by opposition Liberal Democrats to improve scrutiny and restore confidence in inspections.

In an extraordinary Full Council meeting this evening, the new leader of Haringey Council and the Lead Member for Children’s Services refused to agree to vital steps to improve the democratic framework of the council. They rejected calls for:

* The Chair of Council’s key watchdog committee, Overview & Scrutiny, to be passed to the opposition. This change would be in response to the criticism in the Joint Area Review (JAR) that showed scrutiny of performance across the Council was insufficiently developed.

* The issuing of a cross-party request to auditors and inspectors for a re-inspection of the 13 investigations that have taken place following the revelation that Ofsted inspectors were misled by officials.

The meeting was called by opposition councillors following Labour’s blocking of debate on the emergency Ofsted report ordered by Ed Balls at the Full Council held on 10th December.

The only point of consensus of the meeting was agreement that Haringey Council urgently needs extra resources from central government to ensure other key services are not put at risk through the channelling of much needed resources to children’s services.

A request was made for the Chief Executive of Haringey Council to make a public statement to councillors. However this did not take place.

Councillor Robert Gorrie, Haringey’s Leader of the Opposition, says:

“This is just more of the same. The new leadership have started as they mean to go on. It does not bode well for the future of Children’s Services in Haringey.

“More rigorous and more independent scrutiny might have uncovered the severe failings before it was too late.Haringey Council needs a watchdog committee with teeth to prevent inadequacies in services being missed again.

“There have been 13 inspections into Haringey over the last two years.Following the chief inspector’s revelation that they were misled by Haringey officials, what confidence can we have in these other reports? It is disappointing that the whole council could not agree a new set of reports.”

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey & Wood Green adds:

“Scrutiny-phobia in Haringey has led to a culture where it is impossible for whistleblowers to raise the alarm.I am saddened that Haringey Labour has missed an opportunity to turn over a new leaf and to put its watchdog committee on a better footing to do what it is supposed to.

“I will be supporting the cross-party demands for more resources for Haringey.Other keys services cannot suffer.Ed Balls must follow up his swift action with real investment to improve our local children’s services.”