As we end another turbulent year and begin the new one, I continue to hear how the soaring cost of living and the bitter weather are causing people in Crawley huge challenges simply trying to afford to eat and stay warm.

While we face the prospect of a bleak winter, I’d like to take this opportunity to propose some New Year’s resolutions for the government for 2023.  After all, the Tories have changed their leaders and policies so frequently this year they probably need a few suggestions.

First, they should stop wasting public money. The never-ending scandals of billions for PPE either being written off on useless equipment or handed over to unqualified cronies are breathtaking.  Further billions have been squandered as fraud that was written off – as the Fraud Minister announced when he resigned last January, blaming “a combination of arrogance, indolence and ignorance”.

Even now, taxpayers are funding hundreds of thousands of pounds for Boris Johnson’s Partygate legal fees, while we hear Ministers are insisting on unnecessary journeys by private plane.

The plane journeys reveal that the government’s commitment to tackling climate change remains skin deep, and changing this should be their second resolution.

Instead the government subsidises burning imported forests, has allowed sewage to pour into our rivers and seas and just approved the first new coal mine in the UK in decades. They should instead be pressing ahead with clean energy.

Our public services are falling apart and need investment and, of course, our public services can’t function without dedicated staff, who have suffered austerity for a decade and are understandably striking now in many cases for pay that doesn’t further erode their standard of living. 

I back their efforts and the government should commit to serious negotiations to properly address the needs of our nurses, postal workers, railway staff and so many more.

I think that these are reasonable resolutions that any government should be making. If the Conservatives will not, then they should make one resolution above all others: an early election so they can be replaced by a government that will.

Cllr Michael Jones

Leader, Crawley Borough Council