Explain that!

At last night's council meeting there was a vote for the Chair of the influential Economic & Enviromental Scrutiny Committee between 2 opposition members - Councillors Woodley and Longley.What I struggle to understand is that having supported Cllr Woodley in his bid to become council leader the entire Labour group then voted against him becoming Chairman of this committee.If they thought he was suitable for Leader why change their collective mind seven days later. Answers on a postcard to Cllr Ian Gilbert!

Musical chairs

Last night it was time to appoint the members, Chairs and Vice Chairs for all council committees and working parties for the coming year.Having negotiated an agreement with the Thorpe councillors which included the release of certain Chairs to the opposition you would have thought that it would be no surprise that we followed the terms of the agreement. Well it appears to have come as a surprise to certain members of the Lib Dem and Labour groups who seemed to feel that having refused to take control of the council or participate in the agreement or even constructive negotiations they were still entitled to it's benefits - apparently even if this meant the signatories breaking their obligations to each other.That is not the way it works. When we reach an agreement we will stick to it although this did result in the allocation of posts of responsibility to members of all opposition groups.

A working arrangement

As I have already mentioned I have offered a Memorandum of Understanding to all opposition groups in an attempt to move forward constructively and to ensure some stability for the council during the difficult months ahead. Only the Thorpe Councillors were prepared to enter into negotiations with me although some other Independent councillors pledged their informal support.Having lost the leadership election it would have been easy for Cllr Woodley to retreat into "spoilt child" mode and refuse to speak to me but to his great credit he didn't (but then he isn't a Lib Dem). He made some policy demands which I was happy to support and we have been able to finalise an agreement between the Conservative Group and the Thorpe Independent Councillors which will be published on the council web site for all to see. No private or confidential closed door deals but an open, transparent and constructive arrangement. This will allow the council to plan forward with some certainty and I hope that the attitude of the other opposition groups follows his lead during the coming months so that we can focus on what is in the best interests of the town and not on negative and destabilising nonsense.

Lib Dems - sitting on the fence (Part 2)

Following my re election as Leader the first concern was to create some stability for the coming 2 years.(There are no council elections next year). Having considered the position with the Chief Executive and done research as to how the situation has been approached in other areas I decided to consider proposing to all opposition groups that we enter into a Memorandum of Understanding.This would outline some underlying principles and then offer a division of important council chairs in exchange for a pledge from the opposition not to attempt to overturn the administration by a vote of confidence. It did not seek to prevent them opposing or scrutinising individual policies and indeed offered regular meetings between cabinet holders and shadow cabinet holders to discuss policy initiatives before consideration by cabinet to ensure that opposition voices were heard.It also enshrined the right of any opposition member to propose any cost neutral amendment to our budget and to have it dealt with by a vote in full council (where my party does not have a majority) but on the basis that having had any valid amendments resolved they would not vote against the final substantive budget.This recognised the fact that last year many opposition councillors voted against the budget notwithstanding having proposed no alternatives.To fix a balanced budget is a legal obligation on the council and I need to ensure that I can do so.Hardly unreasonable!! The Lib Dems simply rejected it out of hand - as did the Labour Group. There were no proposed amendments simply refusal to enter into it. I still have no idea why but in my view it represents a scandalous failure on their part to step up to their responsibilities to the town and the residents who supported them.They chose not to take leadership of the council with the other opposition groups so must work positively to ensure that the council can operate in a stable way as it faces further massive financial challenges.Oh well I suppose it is so much easier to sit on the fence and then just whinge but the residents who voted them in might like to consider if they could be better represented.

Lib Dems - sitting on the fence (part 1)

I have already explained the reasoning behind my decision to allow the opposition groups to replace me as Leader following our loss of our majority and their decision not to do so.However I do have to add my thoughts of disbelief to the "tactics" of the local Lib Dems and to a lesser degree the Labour Group. Neither group was prepared to put forward one of it's own members for this important role. Strangely Labour whipped it's members to support the independent candidate Cllr Woodley notwithstanding the vitriolic attack on the independent group by Labour leader Ian Gilbert at a pre election hustings meeting or in recognition that in some areas the Independent group pose an increasingly greater threat to Labour than the Conservatives.But the biscuit must go to the Lib Dems who were instructed to abstain.They have been elected to represent their residents. In the first important vote - who will lead the council and appoint the cabinet - they put no candidate forward and don't even vote. It takes sitting on the fence to a new level and having had to endure an election campaign when all opposition groups seemed to have criticised everything the Conservative administration has achieved they can't even get their act together enough to agree on a possible Leader.Still things could be worse - imagine if they had cobbled together a joint Leader bid and formed a cabinet they would probably still be arguing about the seating layout round the cabinet table.

Follow the Leader

Last year I was elected as Leader of the council for a term of 3 years. Accordingly when we lost control I would have been entitled to have ignored our loss of an overall majority and clinged on.That seemed to me to be wrong.It was right that the new council membership, with no overall control, had the chance to choose who it wanted to lead it through the next few difficult years. For this reason I tendered my resignation but, with the full support of my party colleagues, allowed my name to be proposed for re election. Some have painted this as some sort of political stunt but on the contrary it gave the combined opposition, with their majority, the chance to pick one of their own number to take over.I was delighted that Cllr Woodley responded to the challenge and allowed his name to go forward.obviously I was delighted and honoured to be re elected by a significant majority. It gives me and my colleagues a real mandate for the coming 2 years.

Election blues!

I have deliberately delayed updating my blog since election day to give a chance for the dust to settle. It is obviously disappointing to lose out overall majority - we now have 25 out of the 51 councillors leaving us 1 short of a majority. So near but so far! Having said that the clear message from our canvassing was that there is general support for the performance of Southend Council over the last few years but increasing annoyance at the performance of all parties at national level. This was reflected by the appallingly low turnout which frustrated candidates from all parties. It does seem bizarre that at a time when we are improving service performance, delivering budget savings and attracting inward investment in a way which is externally recognised by the Council of the Year award we lose seats.However that is politics and the message was that many of our core voters chose to stay at home.The disappointing night was not ours alone - the Liberals were lucky to hang onto their seats with relatively small majorities, and whilst Labour made gains their vote was disappointing (in Milton the successful candidate polled less to win this year than he did when previously coming second).In an environment custom built for the Independent Party they failed to make inroads - even losing their seat in Southchurch to our candidate.Their "gain" in Belfairs was only due to the success of Steve Aylen who before he was not re selected had been a Conservative councillor for many years, voting reliably for us and seeking our nomination this year. If he is true to his voting record and presumable beliefs it is difficult to see that he will not wish to support us on occasions over the coming months.So now to the challenge of a hung council!