Sparks were flying at last night’s full council meeting when a row over a ‘point of order/ clarification’ led to the adjournment of the meeting.
Just as Cllr Pugh was invited to present his first motion on the agenda in relation to a number of one-off initiatives, Cllr Lumley stood up to ask a question.
Chairman, Cllr Scoccia addressed Cllr Lumley, but Cllr Pugh interrupted asking whether it was a ‘point of order’, Cllr Lumley replied that it was a ‘point of clarification’, to which Cllr Pugh asked whether that was allowed.
“Are you going to let him bully you?”
A row then broke out when Cllr Lumley asked Cllr Scoccia “are you going to let Cllr Pugh bully you for the next year?” She asked him to take it back, which he refused to do.
Cllr Scoccia then referred to the Monitoring Officer, Davina Fiore, for clarification on the use of ‘point of order’. She confirmed that a ‘point of order’ related to an alleged breach of council rules or law, with the ruling of the chairman on the matter to be final.
Raised as point of order
Cllr Lumley then advised that he would raise his query as a ‘point of order’. As he started addressing members, Cllr Pugh interrupted again, asking which rule was being cited as being in breach.
Cllr Lumley called out, “He doesn’t want democracy, Cllr Pugh, look he’s bullying you again.”
Cllr Scoccia asked what rule Cllr Lumley thought had been broken, to which he replied he had no idea what number it was, adding that he was asking for clarification about the legitimacy of the motion about to be discussed. He was not allowed to continue and asked to sit down.
“No confidence” in chairman
“I have no confidence in you as a chairman,” he said, “absolutely none whatsoever. I believe the leader of the Isle of Wight council is a bully and anti-democrat.”
He was asked to stop immediately or leave the chamber by Cllr Scoccia. As Cllr Pugh started making his address, Cllr Lumley called out ‘bully’ five times.
The meeting was adjourned and Cllr Scoccia asked Cllr Lumley to “see me outside”.
Watched on from the public gallery
Cllr Scoccia returned about five minutes later but was not accompanied by Cllr Lumley. He chose instead to listen to proceedings from the public gallery.
He told VB, “I left a Full Council meeting at County Hall enraged that once again we had witnessed the anti-democratic and bullying behaviour of the Leader of the Council towards Full Council meetings.
“I had been trying legitimately to secure clarification from the Chairman as to why we were considering a Motion from the Leader when its subject matter was based on the draft Statement of Accounts for 2011-12, which hardly any Councillors had had more than a few hours (since 11.30) to examine. These Accounts suggest that the Council underspent £2.3m in 2011-12, when I have strong reason to believe that the actual underspend is far and away above that.”
“Out of order”
Cllr Lumley continued “I never got that clarification at Full Council as the Leader hectored the Chairman throughout my attempt to get an explanation, as he clearly did not want that clarification to be given, probably because it was the showpiece of his evening.
“The Chairman buckled to this hectoring as I always anticipated, she would and ruled me out of order.”
Points seeking clarification
In order for readers to understand the background of the incident Cllr Lumley outlines the points below. In his own words. Ed
- I raised this matter with the Deputy Leader of the Council and the Director of Legal and Democratic Services at a group leaders meeting last Wednesday. I was concerned at the appropriateness of debating matters related to the draft Statement of Accounts when only the very few had seen them and they had yet to be considered and approved by the Council’s Audit Committee on 28 June.
The Deputy Leader promised to take this concern, shared by the other group leaders, to the Leader and get back to me before last night’s Full Council. I even suggested a way around my concern to assist that process.
However, as of last night neither had got back to me.
- I raised the matter with the Audit Committee Chairman on Sunday. He ‘took my point’ in an email to me on Tuesday, but still appeared to me to be content to have his committee’s role usurped because he had had advance sight of the Accounts.
- All Councillors received the draft Accounts yesterday at 11.30am. It is a huge document, and as a working person my first opportunity to look at them was just two hours before the meeting. What I read indicated that the underspend is well above what is claimed.
All of this had greatly disturbed me ahead of the meeting as the matter of the underspend is a massive issue for Islanders. Potentially many Council jobs and aspects of Council services could have been protected this year – and in the future – if they had produced a more balanced budget than one that is so far out.
Consequently I wanted time to examine these Accounts in deeper detail than just two hours.
When this was prevented by the Leader’s hectoring, I responded by calling him a bully and an anti-democrat. I refused to withdraw these remarks when requested by the Chairman and continued to repeat the word ‘bully’ when the Leader then commenced the process of bouncing through his motion.
“Anti-democratic farce”
The meeting was then adjourned by the Chairman and I had a private meeting with her and the Director of Legal and Democratic Services and was warned as to my conduct. I explained why I was so unhappy, that the question of the underspend is too important to be whitewashed by the Council leadership.
The Chairman said she knew nothing of my concerns in advance and asked me to return to the meeting. I declined as I wanted no part of this anti-democratic farce. People have lost their jobs, services have been cutback, and the leader will instead trumpet beach huts, street furniture removal and new signage.
Those policies were not what I was elected to witness without protest.
Geoff Lumley (Labour)
IW Councillor for Newport East
20.12.2012
