In My View: Neil Coyle, MP for Bermondsey & Old Southwark
It has been another disastrous month for the incompetent Tory Government.
Before Governments propose legislation, they are supposed to check plans are affordable and workable.
The Court of Appeal has now ruled that Tory plans to ship asylum seekers to Rwanda are unlawful.
This was entirely predictable but has cost hundreds of millions during a cost-of-living crisis facing Londoners and the whole country.
This is just another example of the epic failure that is the current Home Office Ministers’ priority has been grabbing headlines and not pursuing genuine efforts to solve the problem.
But it is taxpayers who foot the bill for the disastrous and amateur Tory approach to being in Government.
Sadly, it isn’t even the only example of recent Tory Home Office incompetence.
The Home Secretary also claimed in the Commons that Ministers are making “good progress” at cutting the asylum backlog.
The facts destroy her claim – cases have risen to an appalling 173,000.
This costs the taxpayer millions more every month and simple measures are available to tackle the problem but Ministers fail to take effective action.
The Home Secretary has been asked to correct the official record but has failed.
When the Tory headbangers lied to secure their precious Brexit they claimed ‘parliamentary sovereignty’ was one of their aims.
Sadly, their contempt in and for Parliament continues.
Just like when they lied to Her Majesty to unlawfully prorogue Parliament.
Or the lie about ‘funding the NHS instead’ when Ministers now refuse to meet medical unions about pay and employment rights.
The Tories keep trying to con the public but they’re only fooling themselves if they think people still swallow their lies.
It has also been a terrible month for mortgage holders badly damaged by the Tory disastrous ‘mini-Budget’.
Mortgage deals have been taken off the market, rates have risen dramatically for tens of thousands of Londoners, and people looking to re-mortgage their home will pay on average £2,900 more every year.
Households have shelled out over a £1billion extra already and there has been a rise in repossessions.
This shocking damage is a direct result of ideological political extremism from Tory Ministers and has left Brits worse off.
The Tories since 2010 have failed to build homes, failed to help renters, failed to deliver promises to leaseholders, and failed to work with councils and housing associations.
But the housing crisis comes on top of the inflation and wider cost-of-living crisis that Ministers are also failing to address.
The response from the Prime Minister when pressed on the issue was: “hold your nerve”.
It is very telling that Sunak is so out of touch that he doesn’t realise how tight family finances are in South London and across the UK.
He seems disinterested and perhaps we need to check whether he’s dusted off his green card ready to retire to California.
While we wait for him to go, the Tories limp on – out of ideas and hopelessly out of touch while South Londoners struggle.
Thankfully, Labour is ready and waiting to tackle the challenges facing the UK.