With the failings of this Labour city leadership negatively impacting the daily lives of so many of us, it is only reasonable that we are outraged by the mismanagement and weak leadership of Mayor Marvin Rees and his cabinet.
A leadership that has stood-by whilst your hard-earned council tax contribution has been flittered away on the failing Bristol Energy company which has now had to be sold at great loss to the city.
Bristol Energy - the brain child of Mayor Ferguson - was launched to the public in 2016 with the intention of undercutting the big energy companies to provide Bristolians and those further afield with low cost gas and electricity. Whilst many of us recognise that the intention was good, the management of this highly risky council run enterprise has proved disastrous not only to the loss of jobs and the millions of pounds in public funds that could have been invested into our communities. The Bristol Energy debacle has highlighted the fact that Mayor Rees, who took office only months after the company started taking customers is out of his depth, doesn’t take decisive action, and has little regard for the people of Bristol who work hard to pay our council taxes that funded this catastrophic failure.
Our communities have been hit by closing public conveniences, litter filled streets, rising crime rate, special educational needs services underfunded and poorly managed, thousands in need of housing, hundreds dying from polluted air and our economy fighting to survive the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet irrespective of these pressing social and economic needs, Bristolians money has been spent on a vanity project which ought to have been shut down years ago.
Whilst you will hear Rees' administration pass the buck, the simple fact is that the great Bristol Energy experiment failed catastrophically, and your money has been lost entirely under the leadership of Labour’s mayor, Marvin Rees.
But don’t just believe me, let the figures speak for themselves:
- Whilst Ferguson was mayor 6.3 million was invested into Bristol Energy
- Labour's Mayor Rees has lost over 32 million and we’re still waiting for the final bill.
Despite calls for transparency to understand what went wrong - Rees would not release the figures
Despite calls for a public inquiry – the doors of city hall were firmly closed to the people of Bristol
Despite calls for an apology – The blame gets passed everywhere but where it should fall, at the feet of Mayor Rees.
And if the fate of this company was not clear enough, in 2018 Bristol Council even switched to British Gas. – Mayor Rees would not even use his own energy company but felt it was good enough for the rest of us.
After bringing in the consultants, the Bristol Energy fire-sale has recouped 15.3 million, leaving a gaping hole in our cities public purse. Millions that could have been invested into safer streets, cleaner air, better education, sports and community facilities or the Covid-19 regeneration plan.
