We’re sure that there are lots of Conservative councillors on the IW Council that are well-meaning and aim to do the best for the people that elected them.
One thing that we’ve found increasingly disturbing over the last few years of us going to and reporting from council meetings, and in particular cabinet meetings, is that we’re left with the impression that they’ve turned into stage managed events rather than chambers for debate.
It’s public knowledge that the ruling Conservative cabinet hold meetings before public meetings – they used to be called Private cabinet, which was changed to Informal cabinet, now renamed Team meetings – where it’s understood that they agree what they will present to the public – and it’s fully legal for them to do so.
To retain an air of democracy and debate, some members occasionally ask questions of the leader, but these feel to us like they too have been agreed in advance.
It has reminded us of the way that a government backbencher asks the Prime Minister a question, only to use it to praise him.
Real world example
A real world example of how things are voted through without proper examination is the IW Council’s recent Adult Learning Plan, much mocked by the national media as gobbledygook.
This plan, that the Telegraph described as “confusing jargon that even its own members cannot understand,” was voted through without objection from the Island’s Conservatives. All it had going for it was that they had been told by the leadership that it was the right thing to do.
In short, it feels like there’s no debate, just a delivery of decisions handed down from above.
Other councillors equally concerned
With this in mind, it was interesting to hear similar views from Cllr Geoff Lumley – who has always struck us as a fair-minded person – when he was speaking at the recent hustings, at which five prospective candidates opened themselves up to questioning by the public.
He said, “One of the things I found when I became a councillor four years ago, was that the first two years of this Conservative council leadership was very different to the last two years. Different leaders.”
Cllr Lumley then went on to describe how, in the first two years of the terms, under the leadership of Cllr Sutton, the ruling Conservative majority were happy to involve councillors from other parties who were happy to would work with them to retain the three tier school system (the Conservative’s original manifesto commitment).
Cllr Lumley continued, “Then there was a coup overnight about something that none of us have ever got to the bottom of … and then we have Cllr David Pugh, who doesn’t involve anybody from any other parties.”
Democracy suffers without debate
Can it be healthy for the Island and its democracy for there to be no real debate about decisions that affect the way the Island is run?
Have a listen to Cllr Lumley’s own words.
[audio:http://otw-audio.s3.amazonaws.com/Geoff-Lumley-on-The-Second-Two-Years-Under-Cllr-Pugh.mp3]
