Former Sheffield Labour councillor's damning verdict on government’s first months: ‘Massive failure’

Cllr Dianne Hurst, the leader of Sheffield Community Councillors Group, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that looking back at 2024, her “overwhelming feeling is disappointment”. She cited moves including the government rejecting compensation for WASPI women hit by changes to the state pension age and ending universal winter fuel payments for pensioners.

She said: “We had opportunities with the election of a government that would look at social justice and support the vulnerable, and they just haven’t. The WASPI news came out the other day… The National Insurance hike… that’s going to have such a calamitous effect on our care providers and care sector that is already quite precarious.

“We’ve got the winter fuel allowance (announcement)… do you actually know what it’s like for people with bills out of control? They absolutely don’t. It’s a major feeling of disappointment because I may not be in the Labour Party anymore but that doesn’t mean I don’t come from the position of social justice.

“Surely, that’s what the central government is all about, isn’t it?”

She added she felt the government’s first months in office have been a “massive failure”.

Cllr Hurst warned the government that care providers will go bust – as the bills are just going up – if they are not being supported properly. This is already putting pressure on local authorities who will have to find the money to keep them afloat.

However, the government says there is the inheritance of a £22billion financial gap, left by the Tories, difficult choices, and tough decisions have to be made.

Cllr Hurst said they are just “parroting these things out”. She added it is a “very challenging” task to balance the budget in Sheffield this year and one of the main reasons for it is the costs associated with temporary housing and homelessness.

She said: “We know we want homes, good quality homes for people where people can sit down and have good quality life but they have gone back on their words, one of their headlines, about converting office blocks into homes which is… You can’t, offices are offices.

“So what are they going to do? Someone’s going to live in an apartment without external light, outdoor light, access to open space, where air conditioning might not be adequate for domestic use? It’s not. You’re just building ghettos. It’s so disappointing.”

As widely reported, Cllr Hurst was one of the few Sheffield Labour councillors who left the party last year after she was suspended for voting against the city’s Local Plan.

My sense is Cllr Hurst did not regret her decision to leave the party – only months before it got into power in Westminster.

“Absolutely not,” she said confidently.

Cllr Hurst added the Labour Party left them (the rebels, those who left the group) and not them left the party.

She said: “We still have that sense of social justice and fairness and support the vulnerable, and we don’t see that around us. There are very hardline responses to things, as you said the £22bn black hole, we have to make some tough decisions… make tough decisions, tax people that have a lot of assets and resources.

“I don’t sense the sense of social responsibility and commitment to looking after people that work hard for you.”

She reiterated that her reasoning for leaving the party was justified and the opportunities Labour had were wasted. Also, she said one of the benefits of being out of the party is to be able to express independent views at council meetings.

Cllr Hurst said Labour wanted to get into power and then keep the power but in doing so the party is forgetting about its roots.

The Sheffield Community Councillors Group headed by Cllr Hurst had a tough year in 2024.

At the local elections in May, they lost Tony Damms in Southey, Brian Lodge retired and Paul Wood died.

Cllr Hurst paid tribute to all three colleagues of hers but added “that’s not stopping our effectiveness”.

She said they were never going to break some Labour strongholds in Sheffield but “we were always going to be the people that ask the difficult questions in full council and we insist on having briefings from directors and senior officers”.

Cllr Hurst added: “We might be regarded as dinosaurs but we have a lot of experience behind us both in politics and in our working lives.”

This year, Sheffield will not have local elections – some say that is good news for Cllr Hurst’s group as they would lose more ground.

She said things have changed in the last few years and now Reform UK is very close to getting a seat in Sheffield – they came second in the Woodhouse by-election and they were only 10 votes from sending a councillor to the town hall.

With regards to her group, she said they would keep asking the important questions, work in the community and behind the scenes, and they will think about elections when it’s election or by-election time.

Sheffield changed quite a bit in 2024, too. Does she like what she sees?

Cllr Hurst said she was happy about seeing some of the independent businesses thriving in the city centre, giving it a character.

However, she said she had some reservations as well as there was an awful lot of money and investment in the Heart of the City scheme but there were some unforeseen things that happened along the way – from Covid to the Ukrainian war.

This resulted in costs going up.

In the year ahead, she would like to see the projects in Kelham Island finished properly, and the city centre to be developed but “we ought not to forget people needing outside and amenity space, services and infrastructure”.