It's not quite open rebellion but more and more Labour councillors in Salford are questioning Mayor Ian Stewart's regime. Last week, three of them signed a `call-in' notice against almost £4.4million of cuts to services for vulnerable adults in the city (see previous Salford Star article – click here), while freshly released minutes of Salford Council's snappily titled `Finance and Budget Strategic Scrutiny Select Committee' show more unease at the Mayor's methods.
Some Labour councillors sitting on the Budget Scrutiny Committee (comprising of councillors Balkind, Blower, Dawson, King, Mashiter, Pennington and Reynolds) "suggested there was…a need for scrutiny committee involvement in the budget planning process" and "also suggested there was value in being more open and transparent about the budget process, through possibly engaging with the public and including them in the development of budget proposals at a much earlier stage".
Cuts announced and approved by the Mayor this year have led to widespread discontent in the community, resulting in protests and rallies outside the Civic Centre, and demonstrations inside the Council chamber (see previous Salford Star articles – click here and click here).
The Salford Star has also questioned why the £24.5million cuts are so deep when there is a £6.5million `contingency' pot set aside for cuts the Council cannot implement (see here), when the cut from central government is actually £16.088million, when the budget is being used to finance prestige projects (see here), when windfalls from Manchester Airport of over £1million seem to be arriving every year and when more Council Tax is being collected from the new properties that are mushrooming in Salford.
Mayor Ian Stewart has publicly accused the Salford Star of `economic illiteracy' yet he has never given any answers. Now even the Budget Scrutiny Committee is calling for more transparency.
The Committee has also asked to `revisit' proposals for the transfer of council homes to Salix, as well as requesting information "on potential saleable assets and the arising capital receipts".
When Ian Stewart was elected City Mayor in May 2012 he promised to "seek to generate transparency" (see here) and in September of that year he introduced government style `select committees' to "enhance effective governance" (see here).
So far during the Mayor's regime none of this has been seen to be working. Last week, Matt Finnegan, the Council's Assistant Strategic Director of Communications and one of the Mayor's closest allies, resigned following a Salford Star article revealing his tampering in political affairs. The Council was also investigating an official complaint about Finnegan attempting to ban the Salford Star editor from the local election count (see here).
The Mayor's autocratic methods of running Salford are increasingly leading to discontent in the city. Now, it appears, that discontent is spreading amongst more and more Labour councillors. From the outside, it looks like Mayor Ian Stewart's regime is in meltdown…
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