FOLLOWING a vitriolic condemnation of Thurrock Council's opposition Labour group by senior Conservatives on the authority's ruling group who damned a decision by Labour councillors to vote against council tax rises, one of Labour's councillors has responded with stinging criticism of her own.

On Wednesday (24 February) Labour members voted en masse against the Conservatives' plans on council tax for 2022/23, saying they did not believe it was right to increase charges in the light of recent inflationary rises.

Within moments of the meeting ending, Conservatives issued a press release slating Labour for opposing aid for the vulnerable. In their proposal Conservatives took the moral high ground by 'ringfencing' the 2.9 per cent council tax increase for childrens and adult social services.

Yet, less than an hour later Conservative members vetoed a motion by a Labour councillor addressing child poverty in Thurrock. By shutting the meeting down early and refusing to allow time for questions to be asked or motions to be debated Chadwell St Mary councillor Sara Muldowney's motion went to a straight vote. She had tabled the following motion: "This Council notes that (1) a recent report to Government by the Social Mobility Commission reported that nearly a third of all children now live in poverty, with 500,000 children in England being plunged into poverty since 2012; and (2) the Council's Child Poverty Strategy lapsed in 2020 and needs to be refreshed. Council agrees with the Social Mobility Commission that (1) child poverty is a preventable problem and (2) agrees to undertake a rapid review of child poverty in the borough in order to inform a refresh of its Child Poverty Strategy. " When it came to the vote, Tories unanimously rejected the motion. The Tories said 'no' – which appeared somewhat embarrassing as, by then, the Conservatives press team had already issued a statement from leader Cllr Rob Gledhill which said: "Other parties in Thurrock haven't learned that the politics of just saying "no" isn't good enough." Speaking after the meeting Cllr Muldowney said: "Child poverty is a preventable problem and, in the wake of covid other boroughs, such as Southend, have been taking robust action to address it." "A life lived in poverty means poorer health, less life expectancy, less choice and fewer opportunities and although some children who are born into poverty go on to thrive, too many get stuck in a cycle of poverty which continues down the generations. "As well as the awful human costs of poverty for children and their families, child poverty is estimated to cost the nation £38 billion a year, that's £38 billion a year that could be spent on other priorities." "Back in 2015, a Labour-led council set out a bold plan to reduce child poverty in the borough by lifting 4,000 children out of poverty. Despite the shift in focus away from robust child poverty targets nationally, pre-covid Thurrock had met 75 per cent of that target." "Getting well paid work is one of the best routes out of poverty for our kids and that means getting a good education. We know that covid has had a negative impact on our children's education. Some classes in Thurrock now have huge gaps, up to 60 per cent, between kids from well off families who had the resources they needed to support online learning and those who didn't. "With the current cost of living crisis putting further pressures on those families who are already living in poverty and those who are just about managing, we urgently need to reassess the scale of child poverty in Thurrock and develop a robust strategy to deal with it. "Sadly, Thurrock residents will have to wait for a change of administration, as Thurrock Conservatives have shown that they just don't care."