I always think that one of the key pillars upon which our society is built is respect for others. Show respect and others will respond in like manner, and we all benefit as a result.
Sadly last week‘s Mayor Making ceremony showed us the reverse side of the coin—with complete lack of respect being shown for the office of Mayor and the assembled guests.
The culprit? Medway‘s Labour Group of councillors—primarily their leader.
Traditionally we keep politics out of Mayor Making, the reason being it is a civic ceremony with a raft of guests being invited. If councillors want to engage in petty political point scoring then there is a time and a place for it. In front of guests is neither the time nor the place.
Labour complained that after their defeat in the 2003 elections they lost the chairmanships of overview and scrutiny.
A big yawn for most non-politicians perhaps, but this is a serious issue. It is purely a reflection on the competence of the Labour chairs of scrutiny before the election.
In a nutshell the government inspection known as the CPA—by which councils are measured—found that Medway Council scrutiny was poor, and we were roundly criticised as a result.
The Conservatives weren‘t saying this. This was a Labour government telling Labour councillors in Medway that they were doing a lousy job!
Not surprisingly after May 2003 we decided to kick out the incompetent Labour chairs of scrutiny and replace them with people who were capable of giving scrutiny a fresh start.
Isn‘t it then a bit rich for Labour to complain that they have been excluded? Even more so when they refuse to co-operate with any aspect of delivering services in Medway.
When we set up task groups to look at issues the Labour councillors do not turn up. When we offered cross-party working on the budget they refused. Most shameful of all they boycotted the government investigation we hosted into improving services for elderly people.
Labour in Medway do not care about managing scrutiny effectively. They do not care about our budget process, and worse of all they do not care about elderly people. Just what is the point of them being elected?