Further to my previous post 'MP accuses Leader of making defamatory comments' there are further developments.
According to Plaid Cymru, the Motion for a full debate and demand for an apology from the Leader over the Sainsbury debacle has been' blocked by the Chief Executive' on a technicality - it didn't have a date on it.
Jonathan Edwards MP has tweeted;
I naively thought that County Hall would be unable to prevent this debate, as it would certainly have the required seven seconders (you'll remember that particular unconstitutional tweak last year) but I underestimated their resourcefulness. Number one priority, as we know, is to prevent anything, including negative stories in the local paper, which smacks of criticism of the Council and the ruling administration (and in this case, bizarrely, Sainsbury's). It remains to be seen whether anything can be contrived to prevent this motion being debated at the November meeting.
The Council have issued a response to a complaint over this whole issue, which can be read in full over on Cneifiwr's blog - with analysis.
Update 3rd October;
County Councillor Sian Caiach has left a comment making the point that the date the Motion was submitted would have been recorded anyway by Democratic Services and ultimately it is up to the Plaid Chair of the Council whether or not it's on the Agenda;
"Its quite ironic that Plaid have been "caught out" by not putting a date on their motion. I doubt whether is actually constitutional to be rejected on that ground as the date and time it was submitted would have been recorded by democratic services. It is not likely that the date of submission is disputed.
In any case, it is surely, under our council constitution, the ultimate decision of the Chair of Council, Plaid member Sian Thomas as to what is allowed to be submitted as a motion on the agenda. If she does not agree with the "ruling" on the date or if she wishes to allow the motion to be submitted from the floor, it is her right to do so as Chair of Council. I trust that we will be discussing this motion next week!
Cllr Sian Caiach"
According to Plaid Cymru, the Motion for a full debate and demand for an apology from the Leader over the Sainsbury debacle has been' blocked by the Chief Executive' on a technicality - it didn't have a date on it.
Jonathan Edwards MP has tweeted;
I naively thought that County Hall would be unable to prevent this debate, as it would certainly have the required seven seconders (you'll remember that particular unconstitutional tweak last year) but I underestimated their resourcefulness. Number one priority, as we know, is to prevent anything, including negative stories in the local paper, which smacks of criticism of the Council and the ruling administration (and in this case, bizarrely, Sainsbury's). It remains to be seen whether anything can be contrived to prevent this motion being debated at the November meeting.
The Council have issued a response to a complaint over this whole issue, which can be read in full over on Cneifiwr's blog - with analysis.
Update 3rd October;
County Councillor Sian Caiach has left a comment making the point that the date the Motion was submitted would have been recorded anyway by Democratic Services and ultimately it is up to the Plaid Chair of the Council whether or not it's on the Agenda;
"Its quite ironic that Plaid have been "caught out" by not putting a date on their motion. I doubt whether is actually constitutional to be rejected on that ground as the date and time it was submitted would have been recorded by democratic services. It is not likely that the date of submission is disputed.
In any case, it is surely, under our council constitution, the ultimate decision of the Chair of Council, Plaid member Sian Thomas as to what is allowed to be submitted as a motion on the agenda. If she does not agree with the "ruling" on the date or if she wishes to allow the motion to be submitted from the floor, it is her right to do so as Chair of Council. I trust that we will be discussing this motion next week!
Cllr Sian Caiach"
5 comments:
I think plaid have actually got to the nub of it. I have never really thought of it before but yes it seems that the CE is operating as a politician but has never stood for election.
As a labour voter I am quite simply disgusted with the behaviour of the Labour party in this mess - surely the Labour corcus in LLanelli can contrive to take over the leadership from Mr Madge to pursue proper socialist policies.
Whilst everybody accepts that local politicians need the help of council officials to deliver services it is pretty clear that in Carms the tail is certainly wagging the dog. Councilors should decide and the CE should advise.
The elected members on the council should feel very lucky that the local press, especially the CJ is so supine. This wont last for ever however and at some point things will be reported upon.
Do local people for example really know that a huge wedge of public money is being "invested" in a church bowling alley when other services are being cut.
No Anon 20:15, I don't think a lot of local people do know what is going on in CCC per se! CCC are treating it's people like mushrooms i.e. kept in the dark and fed manure.
@Anon 20.15
The tail has been wagging the dog for some time, moving seamlessly from Meryl to Madge in May...hopefully at some point the dog will turn and find its bite.
Its quite ironic that Plaid have been "caught out" by not putting a date on their motion. I doubt whether is actually constitutional to be rejected on that ground as the date and time it was submitted would have been recorded by democratic services. It is not likely that the date of submission is disputed.
In any case, it is surely, under our council constitution, the ultimate decision of the Chair of Council, Plaid member Sian Thomas as to what is allowed to be submitted as a motion on the agenda. If she does not agree with the "ruling" on the date or if she wishes to allow the motion to be submitted from the floor, it is her right to do so as Chair of Council. I trust that we will be discussing this motion next week!
Cllr Sian Caiach
Thank you Cllr Caiach.
Yes, hopefully the Plaid Chair will have some say in all this!
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