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Simon Hughes MPRepresenting Southwark and Bermondsey since 1983 |
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Liberal Democrats to champion local democracy at Annual Council Assembly
May 22, 2012 12:00 PM
Southwark Liberal Democrats will champion the importance of democratic accountability and the local community through two amendments to the Constitution being put to tomorrow's meeting of Council Assembly.
The opposition group will call for Labour Southwark to retain the eight current Community Councils and devolve further decisions about local discretionary services to them, while continuing to make Labour's £344,000 cut by forcing individual Community Councils to identify savings.
The group will also push for the 30 minutes of questions to the cabinet at Council Assembly meetings to be ring-fenced so the Labour leader and his cabinet can't escape the tough questions that hold them to account.
Leader of Southwark Liberal Democrats, Cllr Anood Al-Samerai, said:
"The first job of a Councillor is to best serve the local community that we all represent but, rather than listening to local people about how to improve their communities, Labour Southwark are centralising power and hiding behind rules and regulations to conduct themselves without fair scrutiny.
"Since coming into power, the Labour leader has changed the format of Council Assembly to stop opposition councillors holding him to account, announced plans to restructure the council's senior staff so he hold more direct power and has cut the budget for our Community Councils which gave local people the opportunity to have a real say in the future of their area.
"The Liberal Democrats believe that elected politicians must be democratically accountable and that local people must be listened to. It's time to take a stand against this Stalinist approach."