LABOUR councillors have condemned a full meeting of Warrington Borough Council as “a political sham.”
The meeting took place as the council entered purdah – the pre-election period during which political parties are 
supposed to refrain from making politically sensitive statements.
But Labour claimed the Lib Dem-Conservative coalition group at Warrington orchestrated a series of “planted” questions by councillors that amounted to an abuse of the council process.
Labour leader Terry O’Neill (pictured) said: “At a time when this discredited Lib Dem-Tory administration is embarking on a programme of savage cuts to jobs and services, it is disgraceful that they chose to waste the time of council officers and councillors with this charade.
“The questions amounted to nothing more than a party political broadcast. There was no objective other than to try and justify their record of failure in administration. They have wasted valuable council officer time and resources to answer a number of pointless questions. The whole affair was frankly nothing more than a sham.”
Cllr O’Neill said the people of Warrington had lost faith in the shared administration.
He added: “People are facing up to the grim reality of these cuts and they will give their verdict at the elections in May.
“Labour is the only party defending local people. We are committed to achieving the best results for Warrington – not for staging political stunts in the Council chamber.”
Council meeting a political sham
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
12 Comments
This confirms what being a Councillor is for many – a Game! I thought that bthey were supposed to represent the residents of their particular Wards, or is that too naive? When did you last speak to your local Councillor? When did they last ask what is was you wanted? When did they do anything meaningful that will affect you? I expect that they will all be knocking on doors prior to 5th May seeking your support. We will then have the opportunity to tell them what we really think. Roll on a change of administration at the Town Hall as the current coalition simply is not working.
the questions that were asked on Monday evening were relivant to Warrington as they all painted the bigger picture of what the land looked like under Labour control. Councillor O’Neill has already stated to me that possitive discrimination will take place against the leafy wards of Warrington so that more of the council tax payers money is but into places like Longford and Orford. I don’t have a problem with deprived wards having extra funding but £1.6 million has been given. The coalfields give extra money but only to the few not All of Warrington benefit from this. Extra resources are also placed in these araes. The pupil premium will benefit all Schools across Warrington where pupils are on free school meals in the sum £430 per child.
The Mayor even confirmed that Labour started cutting services several years ago.
What was a sham was how Labour Councillors regressed into a childlike manner but what came as no surprise was how ALL the Labour Group laughted at how they waisted £44 million pounds when they ran the council and how they sent £30 million pounds down South to Labour run councils. Thats a sham so please be careful what you wish for on the 5th May.
errr…… hold on…. aren’t you the Lib Dem Councillor that was reported in the papers as saying, at a council meeting, when councillors were debating impact of the closure of the mobile libraries on disabled pensioners…. “JUST TELL THEM TO WALK”. Does that not say something about how the LibDems-Tory coalition cares about the needs of Warrington’s vulnerable people.
Lets pretend we care , afterall it is nearly May
There are ways and means – sounds like your lot abused Council officer time answering staged questions, at the same time as scrapping jobs! Real lives are at stake here so dragging up the past does you no merit, you should be focused on the future of this town
Does anyone REALLY think that the May elections will make any difference at all? We’ll either have the same set, or a different set, of snouts in the trough employing the same jobsworths, incompetents and imbeciles to run what should be quite a nice place to live
Cllr, and how long has this Lib-Dem/Tory party continued doing this for, whlst getting rid of the Top officers who have the experience just to save a million, whilst having incompetents and expensive consultants replace them?
I am the Cllr that said in an open public meeting when libraries was being debated said – To Cllr Pat Wright that she and her Ward have a jewal in the Crown of a library that has had many thousands spent on it to upgrade and that I think it is under used and we must make more use of it.
Cllr Wright then said how should my residents get there to which I replied walk or use public transport she then added they are elderly. All people should be able to access this building and I’m sure she is working to assist.
One thing that Labour are good at is twisting words or simply just forgetting things – But one thing that no person can forget that the deep financial state that the previous government left the UK in. Oh and before they start on pensions – REMEMBER THE £5 BILLION TAKEN FROM PENSIONS. They started to kick us all then – it never started 10 months ago.
Cllr Kevin Reynolds – I wish for a council that wouldn’t see fit to close Westy Sure Start Nursery with no thought for the affect on the children. Your administration has acted with a great deal of amateurism and lack of skill in managing the council when times are tight. Stand aside for a new generation of councillors with the skills required to formulate more imaginative solutions in these very tough times.
Waste is rife within Warrington council and the councillors are in the thick of it. Amongst the apparent benefits they enjoy are free carparking at the Town Hall, free bus travel, contributions to furniture and phonelines etc for their home offices, free PC gear (I believe that some are about to get iPads when they all have blackberrys and laptops – what a waste) + various other allowances depending on what committees they sit on. To be a councillor is NOT VOLUNTARY WORK – it is a paid position with benefits that outstrip other employment. Sort this out first, then see how many nurseries, libraries etc really need to be cut.
Somewhat of a concern that Cllr Reynolds can’t even spell, shows the slap dash approach of his party!
As an officer at a large ‘shire’ authority in the south of England, it saddens me that glory seeking, power crazed councillors think nothing of wasting vast amounts of my time in the pursuit of scoring points against each other.
As an officer of a large ‘shire’ you should not get involved in a political debate