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News and Comment May 2022

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28 May (Part 1) - Called out

Call-in rules in ThurrockCouncillor Francis (Labour, Belvedere) recently recommended on Twitter that anyone wondering what a call-in was in terms of Council governance should Google it so out of curiosity I did. ‘Bexley Council call in’ I typed into the box and Google’s auto-complete helpfully added the word ‘sick’; which is exactly right.

It is in fact a procedure whereby affected individuals or groups of people are able to challenge the decision of a Cabinet Member because without it Cabinet rule in Councils is a very dangerous weapon.

In the panel to the left you can see a typical set of rules laid down by a democratic Council as a precaution against rogue, mistaken or ill-advised Cabinet Members. In this example, the first that Google led me to, is Thurrock’s, our neighbour across the water.

If we lived there you and nine neighbours would be able make your case. In Bexley even our elected representatives are not able to do so.

Bexley is a borough run by rogues who are not at all keen on democracy as their history of banning certain individuals from asking questions, publicly revealing the address of any resident who dared to question them and filibustering the remainder to oblivion has amply demonstrated.

Despite all that, Labour Leader Stefano Borello (© June Slaughter) still holds on to the quaint idea that She Who Must Be Obeyed can be reformed. Last Wednesday he thought “it is very important that the opposition is there to scrutinise the decisions of the executive”. What sort of sacrilege is that Stef? Have you forgotten where you are?


James and NickHe went on to say that the call-in procedure had not been used in the past ten years which I assume the Leader would interpret as proof that her Cabinet is comprised only of the infallible. In fact the reason is that the opposition party is excluded from the process because their Committee numbers fall short of the threshold required. This in turn is because the First Past the Post electoral system translates 41% of votes into one third of the seats and 47% into two thirds and Committee Membership adopts the same ratio.

Clever innit? The Tories love it because it means that Labour voices have little say in any matter. My three votes count for nothing.

Stef said that both Bromley and Greenwich operate differently. In the Royal Borough there are now only three Conservatives out of 55 Councillors but their rights to call-in are not restricted. The Conservatives could call-in Labour decisions when they were in control of Bexley 20 years ago but the Conservatives refuse to reciprocate.

Needless to say Councillor Borella’s plea for more democracy in Bexley fell on deaf ears. The new Mayor dismissed it in eight words and could not have sounded more bored if he had tried. Councillor Slaughter’s assurances that Nick O’Hare is some sort of good bloke look wildly optimistic to me.

Councillor Nicola Taylor thought that Bexley’s Cabinet is scared of scrutiny in a way that Bromley Council is not which succinctly summarises the issue. It has been obvious enough throughout the twelve years I have been watching their antics.

Naturally enough Cabinet Member David Leaf was keen to tell us why Labour voters should be deprived of their share of democracy and as predicted here many times he immediately referenced the recent election result which he implied gave him and his boss the right to do whatever they thought fit. In Bexley the call-in rules provided “political balance”. (Stop laughing at the back please.)

“The request [for call-ins] is Labour’s excuse not to do any scrutiny” he said in what must rank as one of the most illogical statements ever to sully Bexley’s Council Chamber.

“It is typical of Labour not wanting to do any work and they do not wish to represent their residents.ְ”

And this loon is in charge of Council finances. No wonder the borough almost went broke.

  

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