James' Coup D'Etat

testing times · July 25, 2012, 04: PM

As I'm reading this, it looks like every Labour Councillor could end up with an additional allowance as Chair of a Committee and when you add this to Labour's open support for a general increase in allowances, things are looking quite rosy for their cash flows - and Mad Marge gets to be Davros too!

not4me · July 30, 2012, 08: PM

maybe more will be revealed at Thursday's meeting - sounds like a smoke and mirrors job to me.

steveL · July 30, 2012, 09: PM

sorry for my ignorance but who the hell is Davros? Isn't that Harry Enfield's Greek character?

mk1 · July 30, 2012, 09: PM

Quote from: steveL on July 30, 2012, 09: PM
sorry for my ignorance but who the hell is Davros? Isn't that Harry Enfield's Greek character?

Shame on you.

Davros controls the Daleks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davros

stokoe · July 30, 2012, 11: PM

local issue nothing from perseus

The Great Dictator · July 31, 2012, 10: AM

Get him told Percy !

not4me · July 31, 2012, 12: PM

You're not planning on proposing are you, Perseus?

testing times · July 31, 2012, 05: PM

anyone who can even come close to spelling machiavellian correctly stands no chance of getting elected in the Manor. Get your photofit on Crimewatch UK and you're in with a chance.

steveL · August 04, 2012, 02: PM

If it turns out that the town decides to do away with the role of an elected Mayor then it's worth bearing in mind that there were two prongs to the elected Mayoral system when it was introduced in 2002.
The first was the concentration of executive power into the hands of one individual and his/her chosen Cabinet. The second was the establishment of a Scrutiny function to monitor the decisions of the executive. There was no Scrutiny function prior to the introduction of an elected Mayor. It follows therefore that the abolition of one should be automatically be accompanied by the abolition of the other.

From what I'm hearing, this is not the plan of the current Labour Group at all - quite the reverse. They are, by all accounts, looking for ways to create new scrutiny committees to shadow the work of any of the standard council committees (with the exception of Planning and Licensing). This will increase significantly the number of Chairs of Committees and consequently, the number of 'special allowances' paid to those Chairs. The Labour Group are also considering placing the present Scrutiny Coordinating Committee at the top of the pyramid thereby making it the commiittee to which all other committees should defer. This would turn the Scrutiny Coordinating Committee into a defacto replacement for the present Cabinet.

It will be sold to the public, come the referndum, as a return to what went before the elected Mayoral system was introduced but it will be nothing of the sort.