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‘HISTORIC’ PACT AT THE TOWN HALL?
The ‘majority of one’ sees Lib Dems invite opposition into the fold
A POLITICAL coalition seems increasingly likely in Islington in the new year after the Town Hall’s ruling Lib Dems announced a historic pact with the Labour and Green Party opposition.
For the first time since the Lib Dems came to power in Islington almost 10 years ago, Labour and lone Green councillor Katie Dawson will be invited to take part in important meetings on council finance.
The unprecedented move comes as the Lib Dem hold on power becomes even more tenuous following the resignation of Lib Dem finance chief councillor Andrew Cornwall last month over disagreements with colleagues. This removed the party’s majority of one.
Labour and Greens are already compiling a list of money-saving cuts which they will demand, including slashing the £3million communications budget, described as Lib Dem “public relations”, and non-essential hospitality, expenses and travel.
With Labour just a whisker away from gaining power, and both Green Cllr Katie Dawson and Cllr Cornwall acting independently, the Lib Dems are being “coerced” into consensus politics.
A well-placed Town Hall source said that chief executive John Foster advised the Lib Dems that legally they would need to share power on finance
Council leader Lib Dem Councillor James Kempton brushed away suggestions that his party was being forced into an “unholy alliance,” claiming it was always their intention to seek support from the opposition rather than act independently.
“We’re happy to have Labour and the Greens on board,” he said.
“We’ve got nothing to hide. Besides, in the current recession it’s important to have the views of as many people as possible.”
Labour leader Councillor Catherine West welcomed the invitation to join budgetary talks but warned she would be arguing for big cuts.
She added: “We have been promised consensual politics since 2006 but it is only now that it is beginning to happen.”
Cllr West refused to discuss where cuts could be made until she had discussed the issue with colleagues, but sources within the Labour group suggested that the £3million communications budget will be one area which could be radically pruned.
“We obviously look forward to working with the Lib Dems,” she added.
“But these are difficult times and we will be demanding difficult decisions, a major rethink on expenditure, and a new set of financial priorities.
“For example, we might be asking the Lib Dems to follow the Islington Town Hall Labour group’s example and not accept the annual percentage increase in councillors’ expenses.
“This is a time when councillors from all parties must set an example.
“We know that councillors on the ruling Lib Dem executive have some of the highest expenses in the land.”
Cllr Dawson said she hoped that the move marked an end to time-wasting “yah-boo” politics between the Lib Dems and Labour.
“I’ve been saying that [the parties] have got to sit down and talk,” she added, “but until now they haven’t wanted to do it.
She said she would call for an end to the “sham of so-called public consultations” where the administration has already decided what they want to do.
She added: “Consultations like the one for the Sobel Centre are a shocking waste of money. They have ultimately been discredited because rather than listen to what the public wants [the council] have already decided what they want.”
Cllr Dawson also wants an end to unnecessary hospitality and travel for council staff.
“There was a case of staff being flown up to Newcastle at a cost of £300 each, which was a huge waste,” she said. “They spent £8,000 to hire the Emirates Stadium for training when they could have used the Town Hall.”
Cllr Dawson said that the voters have said at the last local election that they want a consensus rather than one-party rule.
She added: “The idea that the Lib Dems, who had a majority of one, should have all the power is unacceptable. You have got to co-operate – otherwise you are not being true to those who voted for you.”
Cllr Dawson said she believed that the Lib Dems and Labour tended to “exaggerate” their differences rather than sit round and talk.
“The truth is that when you come down to it there’s not a huge amount of difference between the parties,” she said.
“It’s egotism that stops them getting on with it. I find it pathetic that they haven’t done this before.” |
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