Agenda item

9.1

It was formally moved by Councillor Paul Turpin, and formally seconded by Councillor Douglas Johnson, that this Council:-

(a)       expresses thanks to all voters and congratulations to all candidates who stood in the Council and European elections;

(b)       congratulates in particular the former Lord Mayor, Magid Magid MEP, and Cllr Shaffaq Mohammed MEP on their election to the European Parliament;

(c)        supports the resonance of Magid’s message of “Choose Hope”, with this positive message being brought to life by two Black and Minority Ethnic councillors from Sheffield being elected for the first time in Yorkshire and Humberside;

(d)       notes that, in the European election, which uses a system of proportional representation, 77% of people chose to vote for parties other than Labour or the Conservatives;

(e)       believes that many people who voted for the Brexit Party at the European elections must feel disenfranchised and feel they lack representation and involvement with politics;

(f)        notes that, when the total votes in May’s Council election are added up across Sheffield and divided by the number of councillors elected, the result is 2,775 votes per Lib Dem councillor in contrast to approximately 7,000 votes per Green councillor; and further notes that no councillors were elected to reflect the wishes of 21% of the electorate;

(g)       therefore believes that elections for all levels of government should be by systems of election that provide for high proportionality, few wasted votes and good accountability, so that the political aspirations and views of everyone are better represented;

(h)       notes that all new democratic systems established in recent years in the UK (e.g. Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish legislatures and the London Assembly) have included some form of proportional voting;

(i)         believes that reducing the voting age to 16 will increase access to democracy for young people who are old enough to pay taxes, get married, leave home or join the army but have no say in any government decisions that affect them, and notes the engagement young people have shown during the Youth4Climate Strikes;

(j)         therefore resolves to send a copy of this resolution to all Sheffield MPs and to Government;

(k)        however, believes it is time for this Council to examine how it could make use of existing legal powers to reflect the Sheffield public’s voting record in a more proportional way;

(l)         asserts that democracy could be improved by reverting to the Committee System, as requested by the grassroots campaign “It’s Our City”, allowing all Councillors to work on decisions to the benefit of Sheffield; and

(m)      therefore calls on the Chief Executive to report back to full Council within three months with advice on the options available.

9.2

Whereupon, it was formally moved by Councillor Sioned-Mair Richards, and formally seconded by Councillor Chris Rosling-Josephs, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words “That this Council” and the addition of the following words:-

(a)       expresses thanks to all voters and congratulations to all candidates who stood in the Council and European elections;

(b)       congratulates Magid Magid MEP, and Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed MEP on their election to the European Parliament, however, acknowledges that being a Member of the European Parliament is a full time job scrutinising crucial European public policy and legalisation, and believes it is not possible to effectively do this job whilst at the same time being a local councillor and Leader of the Main Opposition Group, aspiring to be Leader of the Council, and therefore believes that these important roles should not be carried out by someone whose full time job is based in Brussels and Strasbourg and concludes, therefore, the right thing to do would be to stand down as a member of the Council;

(c)        believes that everything possible must be done to help encourage active participation in politics, and to connect with those who are disenfranchised or feel that politics is remote from their lives;

(d)       believes that any voting system has an effect on voter engagement and that there are many arguments on both sides for the benefits of a First-Past-The-Post system or some form of proportional representation; however, a myriad of reasons contribute to disengagement with the political process and, in addition, it should be recognised that electoral systems for local elections are determined by the Government;

(e)       notes that 1.5 million young people in the UK, aged 16-17, do not have a democratic voice as they are not permitted to vote, and believes that the voting age should be reduced to 16 so they can have a say in government decisions, both nationally and locally;

(f)        notes that the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CPS) estimates that around only 30 councils operate under the committee system out of the 418 principal (unitary, upper and second tier) councils in the UK and, furthermore, this includes a proportion of councils who have always operated under the committee system (such as small shire districts between 2000 and 2012 who were permitted to retain their committee arrangements);

(g)       further notes that the Centre for Public Scrutiny believe more authorities have moved from the committee system to the leader/cabinet model than the other way round in recent years and that they estimate this trend is likely to increase further;

(h)       believes that moving to a committee system would not address the issues that have been put forward by ‘It’s Our City’, mainly because much of what they say does not reflect the way things actually work, for example, their key argument ‘the remaining 74 elected councillors, of whatever political party, and representing a huge percentage of the electorate, have little input into making decisions’, is highly misleading; furthermore, all of the other Core Cities, of Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham, Birmingham, Cardiff and Glasgow, all use this model, except for Bristol and Liverpool which have a directly elected mayor and none are governed through a committee system; and

(i)         believes that a committee system is no more transparent or democratic than the current system and believes that the fact that councillors from across the chamber have called-in issues for scrutiny shows that there is a robust mechanism for democratic oversight and scrutiny available to councillors.

9.3

It was then formally moved by Councillor Mohammed Mahroof, and formally seconded by Councillor Andrew Sangar, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the addition of new paragraphs (n) to (r) as follows:-

(n)       believes that trust, truth and transparency are the bedrock of good governance;

(o)       believes the Liberal Democrats gained seats because they have shown that they can do things differently by listening to local people and adopting their ideas as policy;

(p)       believes that the people of Sheffield are fed up with being told what is best for them by a select few in the Strong Leader model of this Council;

(q)       believes this is a clear indication that the people of Sheffield are continually frustrated with the way this Administration ignores their views and excludes them from decision-making; and

(r)        notes the long-standing Liberal Democrat policy of promoting Single Transferable Voting (STV) for all elections, including the successful introduction by the Labour / Liberal Democrat coalition of STV for local council elections in Scotland in 2007.

9.4

It was then formally moved by Councillor Martin Phipps, and formally seconded by Councillor Paul Turpin, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the addition of a new paragraph (n) as follows:-

(n)       believes the people of the UK have never had the chance to reform our electoral system to Proportional Representation and that Alternative Vote is not a form of PR and can even be less proportional than First Past The Post.

9.5

The amendment moved by Councillor Sioned-Mair Richards was put to the vote and was carried.

9.5.1

(NOTE: Councillors Simon Clement-Jones, Bob Pullin, Richard Shaw, Bob McCann, Tim Huggan, Mohammed Mahroof, Colin Ross, Martin Smith, Vic Bowden, Barbara Masters, Shaffaq Mohammed, Sue Alston, Andrew Sangar, Steve Ayris, Kevin Oxley, David Baker, Penny Baker, Vickie Priestley, Alan Hooper and Mike Levery voted for paragraphs (a), (c) and (e) and voted against paragraphs (b), (d) and (f) to (i) of the amendment, and asked for this to be recorded.)

9.6

The amendment moved by Councillor Mohammed Mahroof was then put to the vote and was negatived.

9.6.1

(NOTE: Councillors Angela Argenzio, Kaltum Rivers, Douglas Johnson, Martin Phipps, Paul Turpin, Peter Garbutt and Alison Teal voted for paragraphs (n) and (p) to (r) voted against paragraph (o) of the amendment, and asked for this to be recorded.)

9.7

The amendment moved by Councillor Martin Phipps was then put to the vote and was negatived.

9.8

The original Motion, as amended, was then put as a Substantive Motion in the following form and carried:-

9.8.1

(NOTE: 1. Councillors Simon Clement-Jones, Bob Pullin, Richard Shaw, Bob McCann, Tim Huggan, Mohammed Mahroof, Colin Ross, Martin Smith, Vic Bowden, Barbara Masters, Shaffaq Mohammed, Sue Alston, Andrew Sangar, Steve Ayris, Kevin Oxley, David Baker, Penny Baker, Vickie Priestley, Alan Hooper and Mike Levery voted for paragraphs (a), (c) and (e) and voted against paragraphs (b), (d) and (f) to (i) of the Substantive Motion, and asked for this to be recorded.)

2. Councillors Angela Argenzio, Kaltum Rivers, Douglas Johnson, Martin Phipps, Paul Turpin, Peter Garbutt and Alison Teal voted for paragraphs (a), (c) and (e) and voted against paragraphs (b), (d) and (f) to (i) of the Substantive Motion, and asked for this to be recorded.)