Despite this morning's full meeting of Salford City Council being done online, there was still the usual political grandstanding, waffling great speeches and endless 'Thank yous' to virtually everyone in Salford who had helped someone out during the coronavirus crisis.
However, there were some interesting sparks on the first few motions, which began with what should have been the formal nod-through of councillors to sit on bodies outside the Council – all sorts of stuff from the Booth Charities Board to the Lowry Centre Trust.
It kicked off when Tory Councillor Robin Garrido said that he wouldn't be supporting the nomination of Councillor Mike McCusker to the LGIU (Local Government Information Unit) Flood Forum...
Councillor McCusker should currently be under investigation by the Council's Standards Committee, having been reported back in February for social media indiscretions (see previous Salford Star article – click here).
The Council's new Monitoring Officer explained that she hadn't had the opportunity to consider the case yet, while Labour Councillor Jim Dawson interrupted that the issue was "not for discussion"...
"Standards issues are a matter of confidentiality" he added and the subject was not in the public domain at the moment, meaning that the Council meeting was "not an appropriate forum for discussion...He should not name people, it's a sensitive matter – he's breaking the rules..."
Deputy Mayor, John Merry, jumped in to 'remind' Councillor Garrido "of the principles of English justice, that people are innocent until found guilty...". To which Councillor Garrido responded that "I just want to make it clear that in terms of the outside bodies I'm not prepared to support a nomination of Councillor McCusker to that body..."
This time, the Ceremonial Mayor, Charlie McIntyre, who was chairing the meeting, insisted that "You have mentioned a councillor's name again!" and that it was confidential....
"This isn't confidential" Councillor Garrido argued "There's a nomination made in public on the agenda for Councillor McCusker for the LGI Forum...."
The Monitoring Officer argued that "people have the right to a fair hearing...it's inappropriate for this to be discussed in the public domain prior to issues being resolved..."
"I'm not discussing any issues" Councillor Garrido pleaded "I'm purely stating that I do not wish to support Councillor McCusker as a nomination for the LGI Forum..."
And, of course, by trying to shut Councillor Garrido up, Labour councillors have merely amplified the McCusker issue again.
The Standards Committee is due to meet on 25th June. Meanwhile, Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett, has kept Councillor McCusker as Executive Support Member for Planning, Housing and Sustainable Development, with an extra allowance of over £8,000 on top of his standard allowance of £11,043.
The meeting continued smoothly until the subject of Political Assistants was discussed a few minutes later...Both the Labour Party and Conservative Party in Salford are entitled to employ an Assistant under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, at a cost of £34,986 each plus on-costs.
City Mayor Dennett wanted to make clear that neither he nor the Labour Party had tabled the papers on Political Assistants; that it was the Conservative group that were looking to exercise their statutory rights.
He said that he had some "real concerns about pursuing this at this point in time" referencing budget pressures via austerity and COVD-19, and that he thought it wasn't wise to "commit Salford taxpayers' money to further resources to support our political activity for our respective groups..."
He added that he has a Political Assistant as City Mayor under 2002 regulations. This secretive Political Assistant's salary has never been declared publicly, nor his job description...even though this post is paid for by Salford taxpayers.
"I find it interesting in the middle of a pandemic that the opposition are exercising their statutory rights" the City Mayor said "...our position is that we don't support this and we would ask the opposition to reconsider doing this course of action..."
In response, Conservative Leader Councillor Les Turner said that until recently the group didn't even know that they were entitled to an Assistant and that employing one was "long overdue"...
"We have a City Mayor with a Political Assistant paid out of the public purse... you've got a whole host of tools there" he said "...What it will do is help my members hold up to account the City Mayor and his executive and of course make sure that the people of Salford get a more balanced view of what the Government is doing to make their lives better. It will be a real positive for Salford..."
Labour Deputy Mayor Councillor John Merry then 'pleaded' with the opposition to "not to go down this particular route as all that is going to happen is that you're going to be taking £37,000 potentially from the Salford taxpayer for a Political Assistant that is actually designed to help and further your particular cause...
"You are entitled to do it under the law...whether it is wise to do it or not is another matter" he added, urging the Tories to pay for an assistant out of their own allowances...
The recommendation was 'agreed and noted'...
For a full background on Political Assistants see previous Salford Star article – click here
The Council Meeting also discussed Salford Council's response to the coronavirus crisis – click here for details
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
(3).jpeg)
.png)
(1).JPG)
