Newly-elected councillor urged to show ‘respect’ after Brexit outburst
A NEWLY-ELECTED town councillor was ordered to show some respect after heckling the leader of Cheshire East Council for delaying writing a letter to government.
At the last full council meeting in October, members voted for Councillor Rachel Bailey to write to Theresa May, chancellor Philip Hammond and James Brokenshire, secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, about the council’s funding pressures.
Coun John Place, Labour member of Bollington Town Council, asked Coun Bailey about the letter on Thursday in the first full council meeting since he was elected last month.
He said: “The government was recently found to be in contempt of parliament for refusing to release information about Brexit.
“Has the leader actually written that letter yet, or is she too in danger of being found in contempt, following the example of the Conservative government?”
The meeting where members agreed Coun Bailey should write the letter came 11 days before the chancellor announced his budget.
The council leader told Coun Place that she had not yet written the letter because details of what the council would receive in the Local Government Finance Settlement had been delayed.
Coun Bailey added that she would ‘share the said correspondence’ when the council is in a position to send it - but Coun Place was not satisfied with her response.
He said: “There was a motion of the council. You were asked to write a letter. You were asked to write a letter, councillor. You haven’t written a letter have you?”
Following the outburst, Coun Lesley Smetham, mayor of Cheshire East, urged Coun Place to ‘please respect this council’, before Coun Bailey rose to speak for a second time on the matter.
She said: “I will repeat. No I haven’t written a letter.
“Why would you write a letter until you had clarity of the announcements made in the autumn statement?
“I could easily have written a letter that would have had no impact whatsoever.
“The response would be ‘you need to look at the autumn statement’.
“It’s about getting it right and ensuring that we reference where income is still required and where the autumn statement hasn’t provided that.”
The Local Government Finance Settlement was announced while the full council meeting was taking place on Thursday, following delays caused by the government’s wrangling on Brexit.