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Briefing Notes No. 145 - 23rd. March 2020
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Briefing Notes No. 145 - 23rd. March 2020 4 years ago #1

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Courtesy Briefing Notes

Briefing Notes No. 145 - 23rd. March 2020

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“Let’s remove national politics from Local Authorities.” - Briefing Notes 2013



Democracy officially cancelled in East Renfrewshire
UPDATED: How much money have ERC really squandered

Democracy officially cancelled in East Renfrewshire

This morning elected members of East Renfrewshire Council voted to hand control of council decisions over to unelected officers. Doubtless there will be directions issued by central government in the coming days, therefore this action smacks of both extreme opportunism and unseemly haste. Let us be clear: councillors have handed control of decisions to those very same officers councillors are there to control. In consequence, we now have no representation. Councillors discussed but refused to impose any time-limit and as this matter is not time limited nor subject to review, it could run until the next council elections, whenever they are held.

You can watch the meeting with this link: eastrenfrewshire.public-i.tv/core/portal...t_interactive/483590

It transpired East Renfrewshire Council has already invested heavily in a teleconferencing system called TEAMS, which would enable councillors to meet from the security of their homes and hold council meetings online with both simultaneous video and speech conferencing.

Present at today’s meeting were Councillors Buchanan, Merrick, OKane, Fletcher, Lafferty, Macdonald, Aitken, Miller and Swift. Only Councillors Aitken, Macdonald and Swift did not support this decision. Councillors Ireland, Bamforth, Convery, Wallace, Grant, Cunningham, McLean, Gilbert and Devlin did not attend this most crucial of all meetings. As the Provost dispensed with apologies, we know not if any were submitted.

Since the meeting one councillor who was present has written on his social media, "There were only places reserved in the chamber for Cllrs Miller, Buchanan, O'Kane, Merrick and Fletcher. Cllr. Macdonald, Cllr. Swift, Cllr. Lafferty and Cllr Aitken had to squeeze into the chamber at seats with no name plates set aside. In fact, I can confirm that both myself and Cllr. Aitken were actively encouraged not to attend this meeting by an officer at the council. We were also challenged by the Chief Executive outside the HQ building prior to the meeting about trying to answer our questions. I told her my concerns and she eventually walked away from me while I was in mid-sentence. It's outrageous behaviour."


A number of you have written asking what we can do. Whilst our initial thoughts centred on a judicial review, one other option has been raised. East Renfrewshire Council has increased council taxes by the maximum allowable, which amounts to 4.84% of an increase this year. ERC officials have applied this with no thought or consideration of the dire circumstances surrounding many peoples' employment security during this epidemic. For the record, do not think they are ‘sharing the pain.’ Not a single word was uttered relating to councillors, who now have no work to do for ERC, having their council pay packets suspended. We get hit with a near 5% CT hike whilst they continue to get paid in full whilst having no meetings to attend to represent us the taxpayers.

Given this undemocratic and possibly illegal decision we question if withholding our council taxes might gain ERC's attention? The principle of ‘NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION’ comes to mind. Even more apt is the original phrase which was '“Taxation without representation is tyranny.” The courts are on the verge of closing therefore ERC's choice might come down to start listening to us or run short on money.


Surely it is entirely reasonable that if our elected representatives are being denied a voice without time-limit or review, we must consider ourselves unrepresented and on that basis have a valid argument for withholding our Council taxes?
Unfortunately none of the councillors present this morning raised the issue of whether proper statutory notification of this morning's meeting had been met and therefore it is entirely possible that the meeting was not legally constituted and this decision is ultra virus.
Tell us what you think. In the meantime, put a stop to those standing orders and direct debits as a few days delay either way will not make any difference.

Briefing Notes masthead used to amuse many of you when it proclaimed, “From the democracy free zone of East Renfrewshire.’ Suddenly it’s not so amusing any more!

Stay safe and well. Our thoughts are with our communities and our loved ones in these terrible times.
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