During almost two hours of the full meeting of Salford City Council this morning, the Conservative Party opposition failed to challenge the ruling Labour Council on anything, while only two of its councillors spoke at all.
These full council meetings are supposedly a chance for the opposition to hold to account Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett, and his Labour colleagues. And there's plenty to hold them account for...
....Salford Council's housing list slashed in half (see here); proposals to shut The Grange, the only residential care home for disabled children in the city (see here), secrecy over non-payments of planning fees by huge property corporations (see here)...it goes on and on and on...
...But throughout, the Tories stayed silent, as the bemused ceremonial mayor, who was chairing the meeting, asked for questions to all Cabinet members and the City Mayor himself.
There were no questions from the Tories at all, except for Councillor Saunders asking a 'non-political' question about IT security, and Councillor Lindley defending himself over accusations of lying about Labour's 'plan' to bring in a congestion charge.
...Apart from that, nothing; so much so, that Councillor Antrobus joked at the end of the charade that council meetings should be shortened, "given that the opposition have nothing to say".
It was embarrassing and humiliating for the Tories, especially given that this was the last full Council meeting before the General Election.
Earlier, Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett, had welcomed pupils from the Oasis Academy MediaCityUK... "It's absolutely fantastic to see young people observing democracy in action..."...More like, 'democracy inaction'...
...As the Tories stayed silent, Labour councillors stood up in an endless stream of grandstanding speeches about how they are helping the 'vulnerable' (see The Grange above) etc, without being challenged by anyone.
Instead, Labour councillors fed stage managed questions to Lead Members, a horrid example being Councillor Burch, who asked Councillor Lancaster, Lead Member for Environment and Community Safety, about Salford's music service, MAPAS,..."I was just wondering" she mused "how many people are involved in this wonderful service?"
The Salford Star was actually present at a scrutiny committee meeting two days ago, chaired by Councillor Burch, where this figure was shown on a huge screen right before her eyes!
A few minutes earlier, Councillor Warmisham had asked Deputy Mayor, Councillor Boshell, if she was 'appalled' at the use of foodbanks in the 21st Century and to give her views on Theresa's May's comments on the subject....Councillor Boshell then proceeded to literally read out a pre-prepared five minute speech...
This was citizenship, China style...
And finally, right at the end of the council meeting agenda, councillors should have possibly been challenging a report on the controversial AJ Bell Stadium, joint owned by Salford Council and Peel Holdings, with £millions in loans from the cash-strapped Council...
The report was also incredibly relevant at the moment, given the 'Salford Forever, Manchester Never', campaign by Salford Red Devils fans, trying to stop owner, Marwan Koukash, from allegedly moving the club out of the city and out of the stadium*...
...Except that the report on the Stadium Joint Venture Company wasn't published in the papers for the meeting**. Councillors were all set to approve it, until someone pointed out that no-one had actually seen it...
...Instead a discussion on the stadium was conveniently postponed until the next Council meeting – in July!
*For a full background on the Salford Forever, Manchester Never campaign – see here
**The Salford Star emailed the Council's democratic services yesterday asking for a copy of the Stadium report and didn't even receive a reply...
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