Tories Flout Democracy (Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats)

Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats <info@oxfordshirelibdems.org.uk>

Tories Flout Democracy

May 17, 2005 1:10 PM

Liberal Democrats will today be proposing that Chairs and Vice Chairs of the County's Scrutiny Committees be proportional to size of group, as specified in the current Council constitution. The Conservatives have stated that they will change the constitution and take all these positions.

Cllr Dermot Roaf said, "Scrutiny of Council services and Executive decisions is, by law, non-party political. It does not seem right, therefore, for one party to take all the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of these committees. The previous council had decided that the Chairs would be distributed in proportion to the size of the group, in order to underline the non political nature of the work these committees do. We will be proposing that, in line with the current make up of the Council, these positions continue to be shared between all the groups.

"Like the Labour Government, the Conservative Council has been elected with a minority of the votes, but are seizing all powers to themselves."

Notes to Editors

There are five Scrutiny Committees and thus 10 Chair/Vice Chair positions. Proportionally these would be held by 6 Conservatives, 2 Liberal Democrats, 1 Labour and 1 Green.

Share of Vote in Oxfordshire Compared to Seats Gained:

Conservatives 40% 43 Councillors

Liberal Democrats 28.5% 17 Councillors

Labour 21% 9 Councillors

Greens 9% 5 Councillors

Cllr Janet Godden (Lib Dem) was nominated to Chair the Health & Community Services Committee. Cllr Jean Fooks (Lib Dem) was nominated to Vice Chair of the Children's Services Committee. Cllr Liz Brighouse (Lab) was nominated to Chair the Corporate Governance Committee. Cllr Sushila Dhall (Green) was nominated to Vice Chair of the Environment Committee. All were defeated by Tory block votes.

For more information please contact:

Cllr Dermot Roaf 01865 559467 (home) 01865 815285 (County Hall)