Agenda item

Notice of Motion given by Councillor John Booker

That this Council:-

 

(a)       believes, at times, elected councillors put party politics ahead of taxpayers when making decisions on important matters;

 

(b)       also believes local authorities should exist to serve their communities first and put power back where it belongs, in the hands of local people;

 

(c)        further believes that this Authority should be looking at a policy of "in-sourcing" not "out-sourcing", to follow the examples of Liverpool, Cumbria and Essex;

 

(d)       is of the view that there has been a practice of allowing management consultants to flood local government, treating the public sector as a gift that keeps on giving, charging inflated amounts of money for consultant templates that read as if they have been written by a child, where only the names of the local authorities change on all these documents, and further believes that the practice of "risk and reward" contracts, where private companies profit from money saved from local council budgets, in effect, result in the poorest in our society paying towards the wealthiest;

 

(e)       opposes the cabinet system of governance, which it believes puts too much power in the hands of too few people, and advocates a committee system which brings more openness, transparency and cross-party collaboration;

 

(f)        further believes the behaviour of the professional party politicians over the last four decades has shown their self-serving system has completely failed democracy, and the people; and

 

(g)       commits at all times to provide council tax payers with the best services and the best value for money.

 

Minutes:

 

Local Government and Professional Party Politicians

 

 

15.1

It was formally moved by Councillor Jack Clarkson, and formally seconded by Councillor Pauline Andrews, that this Council:-

 

 

 

(a)       believes, at times, elected councillors put party politics ahead of taxpayers when making decisions on important matters;

 

(b)       also believes local authorities should exist to serve their communities first and put power back where it belongs, in the hands of local people;

 

(c)        further believes that this Authority should be looking at a policy of "in-sourcing" not "out-sourcing", to follow the examples of Liverpool, Cumbria and Essex;

 

(d)       is of the view that there has been a practice of allowing management consultants to flood local government, treating the public sector as a gift that keeps on giving, charging inflated amounts of money for consultant templates that read as if they have been written by a child, where only the names of the local authorities change on all these documents, and further believes that the practice of "risk and reward" contracts, where private companies profit from money saved from local council budgets, in effect, result in the poorest in our society paying towards the wealthiest;

 

(e)       opposes the cabinet system of governance, which it believes puts too much power in the hands of too few people, and advocates a committee system which brings more openness, transparency and cross-party collaboration;

 

(f)        further believes the behaviour of the professional party politicians over the last four decades has shown their self-serving system has completely failed democracy, and the people; and

 

(g)       commits at all times to provide council tax payers with the best services and the best value for money.

 

 

15.2

Whereupon, it was formally moved by Councillor Adam Hanrahan, and formally seconded by Councillor Richard Shaw, 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)       notes that the new Leader of UKIP, Paul Nuttall MEP, has called for the NHS to be privatised, calling it a “monolithic hangover from days gone by”, whose “very existence stifles competition”; and

 

(b)       notes comments by Nigel Farage MEP, former Leader of UKIP, who stated “‘I have never been, and I have never wanted to be, a career politician”, and further notes that Nigel Farage has stood unsuccessfully to be an MP seven times over the past 22 years and that Mr. Farage has been an MEP for 17 years and counting, taking salary and expenses of hundreds of thousands of pounds from the taxpayer.

 

 

15.3

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried.

 

 

15.4

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

 

 

 

RESOLVED: That this Council:-

 

(a)       notes that the new Leader of UKIP, Paul Nuttall MEP, has called for the NHS to be privatised, calling it a “monolithic hangover from days gone by”, whose “very existence stifles competition”; and

 

(b)       notes comments by Nigel Farage MEP, former Leader of UKIP, who stated “‘I have never been, and I have never wanted to be, a career politician”, and further notes that Nigel Farage has stood unsuccessfully to be an MP seven times over the past 22 years and that Mr. Farage has been an MEP for 17 years and counting, taking salary and expenses of hundreds of thousands of pounds from the taxpayer.