Call for politician to apologise for comparing council to North Korea

THE LIBERAL Democrat opposition leader on East Riding Council has doubled down on his comparison of the authority to North Korea, claiming a “culture of secrecy” exists around coronavirus briefings.

Coun David Nolan said he felt East Riding Council’s leadership were curbing scrutiny of their handling of the pandemic by holding weekly Outbreak Management Board briefings behind closed doors.

He complained that less frequent leaders’ briefings from council officers, “sanitised” emails summarising board meetings and the authority’s full council meetings were insufficient.

East Riding Deputy Leader Mike Stathers said likening the council to the totalitarian state was “despicable and unacceptable” and called on Coun Nolan to make a public apology.

Coun Stathers added the authority’s leadership had “nothing to hide” on coronavirus, saying the Conservatives wanted to work with other groups and that information from the meetings was sent to members.

The call to apologise comes after Coun Nolan claimed in a tweet on Tuesday, November 24 he and others were “ejected” from a virtual briefing to cabinet on coronavirus. His tweet concluded: “It’s run like North Korea.”

Coun Nolan claimed the authority sending out summaries of the meetings and not opening them up to scrutiny amounted to a “top down” approach.

He complained that his exclusion did not allow him to question the council leadership about the figures.

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Riding Coun

Stathers said: “It’s a terrible comparison, especially when we’re working like mad to get on top of this pandemic.”

He said: “We’re instructed by government to hold these meetings every week, and in them we get information about infection rates, hospitalisations and other coronavirus figures.”