LABOUR ACCUSED OF HYPOCRISY 2

Councillor Les Allen is the Liberal Democrat council cabinet member for lifelong learning - a post held by Mr Wynn under the Labour administration ousted following May's local elections by a Lib Dem-Tory alliance. Mr Wynn sent an e-mail about the nurseries, whose future survival continues to hang in the balance, on September 4. The nurseries - Stonehill, in Stonehill Road, Whitecross, in Watson Street, and Castle, in Copeland Street - had been earmarked for closure as part of a shake up of early years education in the city.

The leader of Derby's Labour group, Chris Williamson, said Mr Wynn's comments were personal, and not Labour policy. The emergence of Mr Wynn's e-mail has added fuel to the fire and led to fresh accusations that Labour only wanted to save the three axe-threatened nursery schools so they could be given to asylum seekers.

Councillor Maurice Burgess, the Liberal Democrat leader of the city council said, "When we first received the suggestion, we thought it was a joke, knowing how sensitive the subject of nursery closures is to parents. So far in the city, we've managed to integrate asylum seeker children into the education system and not create divisions, which this would surely do."

Councillor Wynn remained defiant saying he was being "practical" and looking for uses for the three nursery schools, which could become financially unviable following Government funding changes. Mr Wynn said, "For some time, I've been looking at possible roles for the three nursery schools to prevent their closure. I've raised other ideas with both the councillors and officers but this one I confined to e-mail directly to Councillor Allen because of its political sensitivity."

Councillor Williamson dismissed Mr Wynn's comments as "personal" and not Labour policy. Mr Williamson said, "I can confirm that an investigation to see whether Councillor Wynn has breached the Labour Party's rule book is under way." If Mr Wynn is considered to have 'breached the Labour Party's rule book', then he could face suspension or even removed from office. Councillor Philip Hickson, deputy leader of the council and and leader of the ruling Tory group, said, "As a senior member of the Labour group, there's no doubt in my mind that councillor Wynn was speaking with its backing. It's most unfortunate that Councillor Wynn is being made a scapegoat and has been stabbed in the back by his own party."

Councillor Wynn was later cleared of bringing his party into disrepute. Council leader Maurice Burgess, who originally revealed the contents of Mr Wynn's e-mails in the Liberal Democrat campaign leaflet, Focus, said, "Councillor Wynn put forward an idea which was honest and straightforward of him. Having an inquiry seems a waste of time. I think that if Labour had found he had broken the rules, it begs the question: what sort of rules does the Labour group have? I hope that this now kills off the idea of using the nursery schools for asylum seekers once and for all and that the ruling group can find a role for them in the context of the early-years review."

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn was accused of ‘howling hypocrisy’ after his own black bin bags, destined to end up in environmentally damaging landfill sites, were found to contain recyclable glass, plastic, cardboard, paper and food. He was quick to make an excuse, blaming his children because, he said, he and his wife had been on holiday in the days before the sacks were put out.

He did not comment on the fact that the rubbish included recent personal correspondence from his Whitehall private secretary, sheets of blank Government and House of Commons notepaper, and even a luggage tag bearing his name, home address and phone number. His department is considering £100 fines for those who fail to dispose of their rubbish correctly.

The Leeds Central MP, who lives in a large semi-detached house in Turnham Green, West London, benefits from a weekly doorstep recycling collection scheme that has cost his local council millions of pounds to set up and run. Ealing Borough Council provides households with a 44-litre green box for general recycling such as glass, cans and newspapers; a heavy-duty sack for plastics; and a food-waste box for composting.

However, among the items discovered in Mr Benn’s black bin bags, which are supposed to be used only for non-recyclable waste, were a Vina Alba white wine bottle, cardboard packaging from Marks & Spencer ready-prepared rosemary potatoes and a cardboard box from a frozen Chicago Town pizza. There were also Sainsbury’s orange juice cartons and the plastic wrapping from pitta breads.

Instead of using the family’s food-waste box, a stale pitta bread, one bread roll and two lemons had also been placed in the bags. In addition, the black rubbish bags contained waste paper, including a note from Mr Benn’s private secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), relating to a campaign to encourage people to reduce the amount of food they throw away.

While there is no doorstep collection for some items found in his rubbish, such as cardboard juice cartons, these can be dropped off at dedicated ‘reuse and recycling’ centres across his borough. His nearest is less than a mile away. The black bin bags were almost certainly destined for a landfill site, given Ealing Borough Council’s membership of the West London Waste Authority (WLWA). According to the Environment Agency, "landfill is the primary waste disposal method used by the WLWA." (Source: Mail on Sunday, Aug/09)

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