Heseltine-hated on all sides
Socialist Press1980 1980-12-03Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 4 →
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kid, bringing in complicated Association ot District Councus. munon people) nas toucy com- Ine wnoie gang out ol once. 10-1 there is one it is Michael (Millionaire) Heseltine.
As Environment Secretary, this walking Brylcreem advert has presided over draconian cuts in local government-bringing council housing to a complete standstill, flogging off existing council houses, raisine home help charges, closing down social services and raising rent and rates. His latest scheme is a £3 per week rent increase for council tenants.
But as a would-be whizzbundles of new legislation on housing and local government, Heseltine has proved a miserable and embarrassing failure.
Intervene
Even the Tory-domirated House of Lords has been forced to intervene to prevent some of his proposed attacks on school transport in rural areas-and there are ungainly chunks of left-over Heseltine legislation still outstanding on a range of issues.
Now ne nas even manageu to enrage the tweedy *shire Tories" who run the 333-strong Heseltine had promised that his "new broom" would not bring big changes in the amount of government grant which the district councils will receive next year.
But the blonde bungler has failed to find a scheme to protect the rural councils while at the same time implementing his hugely complex new block grant system of rate support.
Not amused IESULL, 1711 rAMIlt MI Ian McCallum, leader of the ADC (which covers, more than 30 plained to the government, demanding Heseltine's . new scheme be deferred.
Maggie is reportedly not amused. And Heseltine's Cabinet colleagues are sick and tired of his half-baked efforts at legislation. They have refused him any time for more laws in this parliamentary session.
•But there is little comfort in this for workers. If Heseltine is hated by fellow Tories it is because he is clumsy and inefficient at carrying through the VULD.
We need not to swap one Tory for another, but to drive the whals anna sit of offinal Monowhnos Heseltine (richt)
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Tory who has succeeded in getting up everyone's nose