Barnet Post talks to Barnet’s Labour leader about his first 100 days in the job
By David Floyd

While national commentators (and politicians) were keen to assess Labour’s victory in Barnet in May based on what it meant for the Labour and Conservative parties at a national level, it was above all a big change for Barnet. This is the first time Labour has ever had a majority administration in Barnet and the first time since 2002 that it has had a role in running the borough. With this weekend marking 100 days in office for Labour leader Barry Rawlings, Barnet Post went to talk to him about how it’s going so far. “A fresh start for Barnet”Perhaps due to a combination of the long period Labour has spent in opposition and his personal outlook on life, it’s striking how genuinely pleased Cllr Rawlings seems to be about his new job. He says:  “On a personal level it’s very exciting and satisfying. Obviously, having been in opposition a long time, part of it is having the ability to make a difference.”He adds: “There’s 41 Labour councillors: half of them are completely new to being a councillor – having a fresh start for Barnet is what we’re trying to do.”Enthusiasm aside, residents will be keen to see progress on the priorities put forward in Labour’s manifesto, which included a rebate on council tax. When Barnet Post asks if this is still definitely going, Cllr Rawlings explains that it is but – as with several of the changes Labour are proposing – only after it’s been thoroughly discussed. He says: “We promised it, so it will happen. What we’re waiting for is the report on the best way of enabling it to happen.” He adds: “We can’t change national or international economics – but if there’s something we can do, and one of these is a refund, it will happen.  We’re trying to find the best way of doing it to ensure people get the money but it doesn’t cost the council money in doing it.”Changing the climateOne of the most prominent elements of Labour’s activity so far has been its commitment to tackling climate change. Cllr Rawlings used part of his first speech as leader to declare a climate emergency before the administration announced the launch of citizens assembly on climate a few weeks later.  Barnet Post asks whether the council will be able to translate all this discussion about the climate into action. He says: “We have to. We can’t afford not to. Declaring a climate emergency was taking the first step. In itself, it’s just a few words but it enables you to prioritise sustainability.”“We are setting up the citizens assembly with the idea that this isn’t a one-off – where we’ll have a strategy and it’ll rest on a shelf somewhere. There will be a group of Barnet citizens who are there: yes, to bring forward ideas – but also to scrutinise what we do and make sure it stays as a priority so there’s a constant reminder that this needs to happen.”He offers a tangible example of the problem that needs to be addressed: “We launched the Clean Air Day in a school in Whetstone. It was year fives and some of the year fives started talking about their experiences. The first two had asthma and the third one has a sister who’s got asthma. So straightaway that’s 10% of the class. Really children shouldn’t be brought up in an atmosphere where asthma is such a possibility.” We’re listening but we’re not Santa A recurring theme in the interview is the desire to listen to residents’ ideas and get local people more involved in running the borough – on issues ranging from climate change to social care to the cost of living. While this sounds positive, Barnet Post wonders what will happen if people come up with great ideas but there isn’t any money to pay for them. Cllr Rawlings believes that it’s about telling people the truth. He says: “What you have to do is be more honest with people so if – for example – we were looking at asking people what changes they want in their area, it will be a case of what changes can we make in the area at no cost or with a limited cost.”“It’s not giving people a blank sheet of paper and [saying] list what you want Santa Barnet to give you over the next few years. It’s saying: “we’re taking you seriously, your opinions matter.” “There is a bottom line, there is a financial implication. How can we work together so that we can stay within the finances we’ve got but produce better results.”Don’t go BANANAS The delicate balancing act involved when listening to often contradictory views from local residents is particularly delicate when it comes to housing. In its manifesto, Barnet Labour pledged to “stand up to developers for more affordable homes and against tower-block blight”. However Cllr Rawlings seems to recognise that building more homes may mean standing up to some local residents, too. He says: “People have suggested referendums on estates where there’s regeneration. The people who never get a vote are the people who are on the housing waiting list because they don’t live there – yet they’re the ones with most to gain. “So if you’re in a regeneration area and part of the plans is to have 500 new houses or flats in the area you work with local people saying: ‘right, there’s going to be 500 new houses in the area – what’s the best way of doing that to ensure that it’s sustainable to ensure that people get jobs out of it.’ So it’s asking the people the best way for things to happen. “Land is expensive. You are going to build higher to protect green spaces, you need to build higher. You don’t need tower blocks, though. You need to think of ways that you can make liveable communities that are human scale.” Cllr Rawlings makes a distinction between different kinds of objections to development: “There’s two groups of people – the [planning] department used to say – there’s NIMBY’s: and I don’t have a problem with NIMBY’s because there are things that I wouldn’t want in my backyard. But there’s also a group called BANANAS in the department – which is Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody –  and you can’t give in to those.“What you can’t do is have people say: you can’t build anything new and if that means there’s more people homeless, tough. So if it’s tough decisions we make them.”Caxit if you can Last month, the new administration announced plans to deliver on its manifesto commitment to end all the borough’s contracts with outsourcing giant, Capita: a decision described as “Caxit” by one Labour councillor. When the contracts were first signed in 2012, Barnet was dubbed the easyCouncil, with the long-term deals moving a significant proportion of local services outside the council’s direct control for a period of ten years. The new administration plans to take some service back in house next year – making savings in the process – but others will remain with Capita until the end of March 2026, shortly before the end of the administration’s term.Cllr Rawlings explains his overall position on Capita: “By law they have to put their shareholders above local residents. I’m not blaming them, that’s what a private company is: that’s the way the system works. So my instinct is always that if there’s public money in a public service it should be within the public realm.” He explains the company came into Barnet hoping the big contract with the borough would give them a foundation to sell a similar range of services to other councils: “We were an experiment for them.”And he criticises the then Conservative leadership for the deal they made at the time:  “It was a ten-year contract with no break clauses. If you think about any business, who’s going to say: we will pay this amount for the next ten years for you to do our IT, if there are any changes you can charge us extra. What IT system doesn’t change over ten years? And that meant they got a lot of money on the extras.”Barnet Post asks whether – while considering the different options between now and 2026 – he is ideologically committed to ending the relationship with Capita, even if continuing it would save money. He queries the description but says he is: “I’m not sure I’d call it ideological in the sense that I think it’s public money, it needs to be accountable and Capita’s not accountable.“I am not wedded to a particular way of implementing it but I am wedded to the idea that public services have to be publicly accountable and that’s my difficulty with Capita as a private firm. Shared services, contract with an organisation but where we’re in charge of the strategy and responsible for it. Or bring it in house. It could be any of those. I’m not saying what the actual solution will be but I don’t think Capita is part of the solution.” Counting the cost Barnet Post asks what – other than a tax rebate – the council is going to do to help local residents deal with the growing cost of living crisis. Cllr Rawlings offers examples of actions including setting up a welfare hub to provide advice but notes that: “What we can’t do is stop there being a cost of living crisis. I have to live in the real world.” Keeping council tax as low as possible will be part of it. He says: “We’ve already said that we will never put up the council tax by the maximum. We might have to put up council tax but, unlike the last administration it won’t be 1.99% every year. Because we don’t think people can afford that. But it does mean we have to look at what we do and if there’s different ways of bringing money into the council. It can be more commercial.”However he also makes clear that inflation in particular is a big problem for the council itself saying: “I think it’s important that residents know, yes there’s a cost of living crisis, it’s hitting them individually but it’s hitting the council as an organisation.”Part of the response to that is developing new ideas for the council to generate commercial income including offering the services of experts employed to retrofit insulation for council housing on a paid-for basis to private home owners. But on this – as on other issues – he’s keen for local people to suggest ideas of their own: “If your readers have the answers on how to raise more money, on any ideas, please let me know I’m quite happy for people to email me their ideas. I don’t pretend to have all the answers but I do say we can make a difference and we will.” To receive a weekly update from Barnet Post, sign-up to receive our email newsletter.To support local journalism, become a Barnet Post member.   

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