At last night’s full council meeting, Cllr Geoff Lumley (Lab), who is also chair of the Scrutiny Committee, told Independent members they were “no better than any other administration” he’d seen in the last 25 years.
Referring back to the earlier emergency Executive meeting which saw seven members vote through recommendations to transfer the freehold of Cowes Enterprise College to Ormiston Academies Trust, Cllr Lumley said he, and Islanders, had been misled.
He said,
“I think you ought to be ashamed tonight, as an administration.
“At 5pm today I went to the Executive meeting and saw you make a decision that disgusts me. A decision about Cowes Enterprise College, where information was used to mislead me, other members and the Isle of Wight and the vast majority of you voted it through. It was just like Pugh. That’s how bad it felt.
“I’ve sat here for four years as a lone Labour member, while 25 Tories ganged up on me, and you’ve behaved like that today.”
He went on to say,
“I’ve watched you lot over the last 15 months and I’ve been sympathetic, but tonight has become a sad day as far as I am concerned, the way some of you have behaved towards me, in terms of scrutiny.”
Speaking on the motion to scrap Executive Advisory Groups, he finished by saying,
“You’ve proved to me tonight you’re no better than all the other ones I’ve seen over the last 25 years on this Island.”
Update: 18.7.2014
Cllr Lumley has said that he will be backing up his claims next week.
