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17
Feb
Councillors stage mass walk-out in protest at 'undemocratic' 'pantomime' politics
About 20 councillors walked out of a key North Yorkshire Council meeting on Friday in protest at what they said was a lack of democracy in the way the executive conducts its business.
Some were so angry at events in the chamber that they describing proceedings as a “farce” and a “pantomime”.
Eighty-four of North Yorkshire’s 90 councillors met in Northallerton to discuss the council’s annual budget and its five-year plan.
But towards the end of a long session that lasted from 10.30am to 4pm, Liberal Democrat, Green, independent and all 10 of the Labour members left the chamber in protest.
The first problem came when they found the Council Plan 2025-29 had been submitted incomplete, with two sections missing.
Cllr Chris Aldred [Lib Dem, High Harrogate and Kingsley] told the Stray Ferret:
It was stated that the executive would add these later – but this is unconstitutional, as the Council Plan has to be agreed by full council – the Plan constitutionally belongs to all elected members and not just the 10 executive members.
How can we vote to approve something when we don’t have the full information?
Deputy leader Cllr Gareth Dadd [Con, Thirsk], who is executive member for finance and resources, then proposed an amendment to the plan the executive had tabled – a move Cllr Aldred described as “very strange meeting procedure”.
Cllr Arnold Warneken [Green, Ouseburn] was not among those who walked out, but he is calling for a change to the Conservative-controlled council’s political system, as well as more order and respect in public meetings.
He said:
All the decisions are pre-agreed behind closed doors, and no matter how conscientious and persuasive you are, the administration is not for turning. This is not democracy.
We need to change to a ‘Modern Committee System’, where there is representation from all parties on the executive committee and chairs from all political groups, giving all councillors the chance to be more involved in the decision-making process.
He added:
When I first came into local politics, I was told, ‘Remember, Arnold, this is a theatre’. But I don’t agree with that. There are people homeless, there are people trying to heat their homes, and they need us to work for them.
If it is a theatre, Friday was a pantomime, and the public deserve better.
The walk-out came after a series of bad-tempered exchanges between councillors, when the executive committee was accused of making personal attacks on members, and claims from opposition councillors that Tory councillors had been instructed how to vote ahead of the meeting.
Cllr Warneken said:
Meetings turn into a verbal brawl. This behaviour is not what taxpayers expect of their elected members.
With strong chairmanship, the farce would cease, morale amongst officers would improve, and the public would get something akin to what they deserve and expect.
Cllr Aldred said the problem came largely from a ‘North Yorkshire knows best’ attitude from the executive, which he said had no desire to change. He added:
It was a farce and frankly embarrassing. Arnold is correct in pointing the finger at lack of leadership and the Conservative / Independent collation just using their block vote to pass business rather than listening to any constructive debate – which does happen.
It’s a very sad state of affairs and leads to frustration from those who aren’t members of the ruling group – and this unfortunately was one way of expressing it, at the back end of a very long meeting.
But the leader of the council, Cllr Carl Les OBE [Con, Catterick Village & Brompton-on-Swale], denied that the big budget decisions were being forced through. He said:
What Cllr Warneken is really saying is ‘we didn't win enough seats at the last election, but we want a bigger say in what's being decided than we are entitled to’.
If his party or others win the next election then they can change the system. It’s not set in stone, but it works in my opinion.
He claims it’s not democratic for the administration to vote against the suggestions of others. It’s entirely democratic as democracy is the use of the vote to decide something.
Responding to Cllr Warneken's assertion that the Conservatives’ chief whip had spent “a busy day getting votes aligned”, Cllr Les said:
We do not ‘whip’ the group. Neither I nor my predecessor ever has in the 20 years we have led the council.
Presently we have three whips, no chief whip, whose duties are to fill absences by substitution on committees, ensure good communications within the group, and as we are all busy people, to ensure good communications between the group and the leadership.
But Cllr Warneken hit back:
On absolutely every vote, the Conservative councillors have voted all together the same way. It’s just too coincidental that they all have exactly the same opinion. They are whipped.
Tom Jones [Con, Scotton and Lower Wensleydale] has told me in the past that they’re whipped. He was the one pulling arms down when there was the vote on making me climate champion.
If Carl Les believes that, then he’s not in control of his own group – he needs to tell his whip not to whip!
The meeting was one of the year's key council events. As we reported on Friday, councillors decided, against opposition, to halve councillors’ locality budgets – the money they are allowed to distribute to local causes they deem worthy – from £10,000 to £5,000 a year.
They also agreed the authority’s budget for the coming year, including a 4.99% increase in council tax.
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