Bradford Council Annual General Meeting.
In the week of May 19th, Reform tried to cause trouble yesterday after they did not get to control Committees at Bradford Council. In fact, the Chief Executive said yesterday what a sensible approach was taken by all the Groups to ensure there is strong cross-party leadership on committees to hold the executive to account. Reform’s Richard Tice published a statement about this matter, and in response here’s the Conservative statement:
Reform are being deliberately and disgracefully misleading in their statement. Reform now leads Bradford Council as a minority administration, and they voted for their Group Leader to be the Leader of Council at yesterday’s Annual Council meeting. They don’t even seem to know how many councillors they have in their inaccurate press statement.
There is no coalition opposing them and to suggest this is absolute nonsense. It is standard practice for opposing parties to vote for different Committee Chairmanships to ensure wide representation on council committees. Reform now controls the Executive function of the Council, and the committees are there to hold them to account and should have as wide a membership across a council with no overall control.
We know that the majority of Bradford residents have voted for an end to the disastrous left-wing mismanagement of the Council which has seen over a decade of above inflation council tax rises to pay for repeatedly failed services. The Conservative Group will support sensible proposals from the Council that would be beneficial for Bradford residents but will assess these as and when they come forward. We will be pushing for local priorities such as reopening the Household Recycling Centres and getting Bradford as a focus area in the national grooming gang inquiry.
Furthermore, in a war of words on social media, some candidates are misrepresenting what happened at the council meeting. Perhaps they don’t realise that much of what happens at council is recorded, especially votes for the Leadership. The Conservative Group abstained from voting for the leader during the two votes called, this was not as reported in statements to the local press. I have therefore requested full detail from the head of Legal and Governance to clarify this position in addition to standing order changes during the same meeting (below). This is shown above. I’m confident that there will now be a scramble to delete or edit comments, albeit too late. See:
8. SUPPLEMENTARY ITEM – COUNCIL STANDING ORDERS – VOTING ARRANGEMENTS
The report of the Director of Legal and Governance (Document “B”) will be submitted to the meeting of Council and asks Members to consider recommendations in respect of proposed changes to Council Standing Orders in particular voting on appointments where there is more than one nomination.
Recommended –
1. That the proposed addition set out below is made to Council Standing Orders:
25A Voting on Appointments
If more than one person is nominated for a vacant position the Lord Mayor will call a vote, at which time each member present and entitled will have one vote for one candidate. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast the candidate receiving the least number of votes is eliminated and a further vote taken. The process will continue until there is a majority for one candidate.
That the Director of Legal and Governance ensures that any agreed amendments to the Constitution are made.
Why does this matter?
Members (councillors in this case) must abide by a code of conduct in addition to the Nolan Principles. Although new to their roles, councillors agreed to be bound by the code of conduct when accepting their positions. You really don’t have to have a working knowledge of the code because most people are aware of the difference between truth and deception.
The relevant portion of the members’ code of conduct is given below:
General principles of councillor conduct
- Everyone in public office at all levels, all who serve the public or deliver public services, including ministers, civil servants, councillors and local authority officers should uphold the Seven Principles of Public Life, also known as the Nolan Principles – See Appendix A.
- In accordance with the public trust placed in me, on all occasions:
- I act with integrity and honesty
- I act lawfully
- I treat all persons fairly and with respect; and
- I lead by example and act in a way that secures public confidence in the role of councillor. Page 2 of 15 Rev May 2022
- In undertaking my role:
- I impartially exercise my responsibilities in the interests of the local community
- I do not improperly seek to confer an advantage, or disadvantage, on any person
- I avoid conflicts of interest
- I exercise reasonable care and diligence, and
- I ensure that public resources are used prudently in accordance with my local authority’s requirements and in the public interest.
Application of the Code of Conduct
- This Code of Conduct applies to you as soon as you sign your declaration of acceptance of the office of councillor or attend your first meeting as a co-opted member and continues to apply to you until you cease to be a councillor.
- This Code of Conduct applies to you when you are acting in your capacity as a councillor which may include when:
- you misuse your position as a councillor
- your actions would give the impression to a reasonable member of the public with knowledge of all the facts that you are acting as a councillor.
