Island Independent councillors have condemned the Isle of Wight Council leader, Cllr Dave Stewart, and his fellow Conservative councillors for “continuing to show that they are the most undemocratic and unaccountable Council Administration in the country”.
Cllr Stewart was criticised last year for removing the right for other councillors to ask questions of himself and other Cabinet members in Full Council meetings, as well as reducing the number of those meetings.
“Empty gestures”
At this year’s Annual Council Meeting (Wed 16th May) fresh changes are proposed (see paper below) to give the impression of reversing these changes, but which the Indies say are in fact just “empty gestures that seek to maintain the shutdown on accountability”.
Cllr Ian Stephens, Leader of the Island Independents said:
“The new proposals state that the Council Leader can give a report to Full Council and may be asked questions arising from the report. This means Councillor Stewart can control what questions he can be asked by limiting the content of his report. Doubtless we will see him refusing to answer questions because they do not ‘arise from the content’ of his report.
“Prior to the current Conservative Administration gaining power, all Cabinet members had to present a report at each Full Council meeting` and could be asked any questions about their work whether arising from that report or not.
“Questions on other issues for the Council Leader are now to be permitted but such questions must be submitted in writing four working days prior to the Council meeting, giving Councillor Stewart plenty of opportunity to engage help from his Cabinet colleagues and officers to craft answers doubtless designed to tell us nothing.”
No provision for Cabinet to be questioned
Cllr Stephens went on to say:
“The changes proposed suggest that Councillor Stewart seems to only believe in his own abilities and not those of his Cabinet members. No provision is being made for them to be asked questions directly which continues to limit the accountability of this Administration, affects the scope of scrutiny and which stands in stark contrast to other Councils across the Country.
“It all begs the question why such a controlled and controlling approach to questions is necessary. As senior politicians on the Isle of Wight, Cllr Stewart and his Cabinet members should be able to respond to questions without notice on any matter the Administration is dealing with.”
Annual Council meeting May 2018 – PAPER B by OnTheWightNews on Scribd
Cllr Debbie Andre shares the above on behalf of the group of Island Independent councillors. ed
