Adam Hug

SUMMERTIME is often described in the news industry and politics as the “silly season” where stories of little substance or manufactured drama fill the space when not much is happening.

That seems to me a fairly accurate description of where the political debate is right now and sadly there is no sign that this silliness is likely to abate this side of a general election.

There is so much the current government should be doing to address the cost-of-living, housing and climate crises (and much more).

Instead the Conservatives seem intent on dragging the political debate into the gutter to distract from the state of the country and their record over the last 13 years.

The new Illegal Migration Act 2023 is just their latest example, with increasingly bellicose rhetoric married to policies that in some cases are performatively cruel, but are likely to be ineffective at addressing the real issues.

Whereas I’m proud of Westminster City Council’s pragmatic but compassionate track record of doing what we can to help, such as by placing more than 1,000 Ukrainian refugees with local families, working with charities to provide support to refugee families who pass through our borough, and recently committing to find ways to do more as a “Council of Sanctuary”.

We are doing what we can despite government incompetence, which recently saw refugees spending several nights on the pavement in Pimlico.

While Whitehall and “Westminster” dithers and distracts, Westminster City Council delivers.

We have invested millions locally to make sure our residents are supported with their bills, rent, school meals and more.

We are on track to deliver more than 1,000 new social homes by 2026.

And in responding to the climate emergency we’re investing in retrofit, reforming the planning rules, rolling out 45 new electric bin lorries, working with businesses to lead change through our sustainable city charter and working with residents through our first ever climate citizens’ assembly to find ways to do more.

While the government seems to be able to find endless time for the culture war, it can’t make the time to help improve people’s everyday lives.

Local people in Westminster have been waiting years for the government to pass a transport bill (indeed I distinctly remember it was promised just before the 2022 local elections…) that would finally enable Transport for London and the city council to regulate and crack down on the rip-off pedicabs who fleece our tourists and deafen local people with blaring music.

Only this week, the case emerged of a Belgian woman charged more than £450 to travel just over a mile – and menaced in front of her children into paying up.

The government’s failure to act has been doubly damaging for Westminster because this legislation is also required to give us and TfL legal powers to regulate and manage the e-bikes often left strewn across our city.

The previous administration waited in vain for their ministers to regulate the industry so had no local plan to deal with the problem; we were not prepared to wait.

The council has worked hard to prepare a new network of designated parking bays for e-bikes and are working with their operators to roll out this approach across Westminster over the next few months.

It may be summer but at Westminster City Council we are focused on solutions not silliness.

• Adam Hug is Labour leader of Westminster City Council.