Re: Council tax U-turn

"Colin Rosenstiel" <rosenstiel@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

> I agree with Mike that there were times under the old system when
> majorities accepted things the minority (or their own backbenchers)
> said. Not often of course because political parties want their way most
> of the time but it did happen.

I don't disagree with this either. I disagree that it was a common
occurrence, except in planning applications. It is also the case that where
the opposition parties have a legitimate, genuine concern or grievance the
point they are likely to try to get their point across was well before the
committee meeting: a discussion with the committee chair. The point of
committee meetings was surely to convey the differences between political
viewpoints on micro-policy: they weren't designed to be consensus building,
policy advancing bodies.

> To pretend that group meetings have suddenly disappeared is disingenuous
> to say the least.

But no-one's claiming that - the whole point of the new system is that it
brings to public attention the fact that policy is determined by a single
councillor or a (usually single party) cabinet, meeting in secret, decisions
which are then published, argued for by the councillor responsible, rather
than unaccountable officers, and scrutinised by councillors who had no part
in the decision-making process: an important distinction from the old
system.

> It still does happen under the Executive system Cambridge uses though a
> refusal of Labour councillors to vote at scrutiny committees can lead to
> farce, as with the 0-0 vote at a recent meeting.

Which party heads scrutiny functions in Cambridge?

Adam


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