Rowan sent VB this article on the night of the full council meeting.
In it she expresses her view of the debate around the Vestas Motion that was put forward by Cllr Geoff Lumley and, after amendment by Cllr George Brown, was voted through unanimously by the council.
If you missed it, here’s the live coverage that VB did on the night.
If you’ve got an article that you would like others to read, feel free to get in touch too. We welcome all sorts of views.
–Ed
On Wednesday evening the Isle of Wight’s elected councillors did a fine thing. They put aside ya-boo politics, moved beyond simplistic ideology on all sides, and unanimously voted for a motion that showed more than just sympathy for the Vestas workers.
Councillor Geoff Lumley had circulated his proposed motion before the meeting started. But by the time he got to the meeting he had already amended it, putting aside his own political commitment to public ownership, because he knew that other councillors would probably not feel able to support such a motion for ideological reasons.
In ya-boo politics, that would have been an excuse for a slanging match, but Cllr Lumley had instead changed the wording to something he hoped a majority of councillors could support:
In the light of the devastating loss of 600+ jobs at the local Vestas plant, the IW Council supports the view of the Island’s MP that “it is important that public money is invested in businesses that are firmly rooted in local economies” and will work proactively to make that aspiration a reality in future.
In the meantime and in the face of the current Vestas situation, the IW Council will exert whatever pressure it can to get the Government to facilitate moving the Vestas plant into alternative ownership as a way of not only saving the 600+ local jobs, but also of promoting its own policies to expand renewable energy sources, including wind power.
Cllr Brown, from across the political divide, put forward yet another amendment to Cllr Lumley’s motion, saying he wanted to be pragmatic about what might actually be possible:
In the light of the devastating loss of 600+ jobs at the local Vestas plant, the IW Council supports the view of the Island’s MP that “it is important that public money is invested in businesses that are firmly rooted in local economies” and will work proactively to make that aspiration a reality in future.
The IW Council welcomes the recent announcement by the Energy and Climate Change Secretary that his department intends to make an award for Vestas UK Ltd’s research and development centre; and furthermore, it supports the principle of linking grants to the continuity of businesses rooted in the Island’s economy.The IW Council will continue to exert whatever pressure it can to persuade Government to support inward investment on the Island, especially by organisations involved in the renewable energy industry.
The Council will make its best efforts to facilitate the transfer of ownership of Vestas UK Ltd’s premises on the St Cross Business Park to investors willing to employ Island workers, preferably in productive activity associated with renewable energy. The Council wishes to secure the development of wind energy technology on the Isle of Wight as part of its economic strategy.
Common sense
The councillors who spoke mostly talked eminent common sense and showed genuine understanding of how terrible the loss of so many jobs would be for the workers involved and for the Island economy as a whole. That’s not to say of course that everything said was pure eloquence. One councillor did the classic ‘I’ll be brief’ introduction then waffled for several minutes.
Few low points
The low point of the evening was the councillor who struck a distinctly sour note by going on about the alleged ‘militancy’ of the workers fighting for their jobs, almost saying that by fighting for them they would ensure they lost them – I can’t help suspecting that if he were threatened with the loss of his own job he wouldn’t just roll over and accept it passively! But all the other councillors present seemed to understand that this is not the time for parroting ideology.
The few bum notes were more than made up for by the other speakers. Cllr Ian Stephens chaired with patience and great courtesy. Cllrs Lumley and Whittaker spoke with compelling conviction. Cllr Barry Abraham spoke very movingly of the devastation redundancy and unemployment can cause, and even said if he were in the position of the Vestas workers he would probably be doing what they’re doing – an amazingly human and honest response.
Beyond party politics
It was almost all far beyond what most of us normally assume to be the sordid world of party politics, where all people care about is to get one over the other lot.
Cllr Lumley had the generosity to allow Cllr Brown’s amended motion to be voted on. And all the Isle of Wight’s councillors voted in favour.
I think our elected representatives did us all proud and set us a fine example of how adversity can bring out the best in us and reveal our common humanity. I have never seen anything like it.
