AND THEN THERE WERE - (gulp) - FIFTEEN !!!

So the Tories did their worst......

The Budget setting Full Council on Wednesday was long (4 hours), occasionally impassioned and ultimately heartless as the Tory budget proposals were eventually agreed by 19 votes to 14 with 1 Tory abstention - with the Chair not voting, 2 councillors suspended, 1 absent and 2 leaving before the final vote - all the Named Votes are detailed at the end of this post. Well done Bill Wyatt-Millington for having a conscience and abstaining.

The Budget amendment I had proposed with the assistance of some of the independent group went down by 20 votes to 15, which was a unity of all opposition councillors for the first time since the Tories were first elected back in 2005. The Liberal amendment lost by 20 votes to 10, with 5 independents preferring not to support it. I did.

The acting Chair decided to be entirely undemocratic and to deny me the concluding full 'right of reply' on my amendment, despite the fact that such rights of reply have been allowed at every Budget meeting that I have ever been part of or witnessed. They really must fear me - probably with good cause as Tory debating skills leave a lot to be desired.

Now it is the job of all opposition and Tory backbench councillors - all 33 of us who are on the margins of this Council - to make sure this cruel budget does not hurt vulnerable people as much as we fear and the Cabinet denies.

One last point - one Tory backbencher congratulated me on my contribution to the Budget debate when I bumped into them yesterday. He then asked me where I got all the information to propose an alternative as the likes of him weren't party to budget considerations..........

‘Named Votes’ were as follows:

LUMLEY/STEPHENS ALTERNATIVE BUDGET:

In favour – Lumley, Stephens, Bacon, Churchman, Downer, Dyer, Fuller, Humby, Welsford, Whittle, Barry, Howe, Knowles, Richards, Whittaker(A).(15) Joyce suspended

Against – All Tories – Pugh, Abraham, Bingham, Brown, Bulwer, Cameron, Cousins, Dixcey, Giles, Hobart, Hollis, Hunter-Henderson, Jones-Evans, Scoccia, Ward, Webster, White, Williams, Wyatt-Millington – and Whittaker(D).(20) – Taylor excluded due to prejudicial interest, Mazillius in Chair not voting, Peacey-Wilcox sent apologies, Sutton suspended

(Those in BOLD contributed to the debate)

LOST 15 votes to 20

***

LIBERAL DEMOCRAT AMENDMENT:

In favour – Barry, Howe, Knowles, Richards, Lumley, Bacon, Churchman, Fuller, Welsford, Whittaker(A). (10)

Against – same Tories and Whittaker(D). (20)

Abstained – Downer, Dyer, Humby, Stephens, Whittle (5)

LOST 10 votes to 20

***

CONSERVATIVE REVISED BUDGET PROPOSAL:

In favour – same Tories, except Wyatt-Millington. (19) – Taylor now voting, Whittaker(D) had left.

Against – Lumley, Stephens, Bacon, Churchman, Downer, Dyer, Fuller, Humby, Welsford, Whittle, Barry, Howe, Knowles, Richards. (14) – Whittaker (A) had left.

Abstained – Wyatt-Millington (Tory-Chale, Niton & Whitwell) (1)

APPROVED 19 votes to 14

***

Please save these for 2013……..

HALLELUJAH !

At last, after five barren years, the local Liberals have entered the debate about the Council budget with some serious proposals. So next week we will have two amendments to the Tory proposals where there have always been one, from me.

And there is some good stuff in their budget. Some overlaps with ours (eg. reductions in media and communications, reduction in carbon emissions by 10%), some of it is plain daft (eg. returning the senior management structure to what it was in 2005 within just one year), and some of it entirely fails to hit the spot.

Missing the spot are the absence of any support for Westminster House; the failure to loosen the straightjacket that will be put on the vulnerable people who don't use Supporting People services, but need other social services; the failure to retain music lesson subsidies for children of the less well-off; and the failure to recognise that the care 'personalisation' agenda is really going to hit some care providers in the next year.

Nonetheless, I will be inclined to vote for their amendment once ours has fallen. However, I bet they won't do the same to ours.

What would be good would be if we could find common ground and have an amendment on the night that all opposition members (15) can get behind. And maybe then, just maybe, 5 Tories might remember that supporting the Council Leader isn't as important as supporting vulnerable people.........

THE BUDGET CHOICE.......

Press Release:

LABOUR COUNCILLOR WORKS WITH INDEPENDENTS TO DELIVER ALTERNATIVE BUDGET

The Isle of Wight's Labour Councillor, Geoff Lumley has today published the 'Alternative Budget' for Full Council that he now traditionally proposes each year in response to the Conservative budget proposals. For the last three years he has been the sole councillor to do this and he has secured increasing levels of support at each step.

This year Cllr Lumley, in the unfortunate absence of a Labour colleague, has worked with members of the Council's Independent group to produce an alternative budget. The proposal will be seconded by Cllr Ian Stephens, Vice Chairman of the Council. Cllr Lumley also hopes to get support for the proposals from other independent councillors, many of whom have made suggestions for the alternative budget.

The Alternative Budget, although still proposing a 2.5% increase in Council Tax next year, seeks to lessen the effects of some of the savage £11million cuts proposed by the Conservative leadership at County Hall by instead reducing spend on: -

areas that bring little benefit to Islanders, such as media communications and performance measurement;
excessive carbon emissions;
wasted energy usage for some street lighting;
over ambitious capital programmes that are never delivered;
services duplication in the ENO scheme, whilst replacing it with a better-focused community warden scheme;
loss-making harbour and leisure operations;
over-provision for so-called 'doubtful debts';

and makes a novel suggestion that high-earning Council managers set a 'we are all in this together' austerity example by giving up 15% of all earnings above £90,000 pa - potentially raising more than £150k.

In return for these nearly £3 million of efficiencies, the Alternative Budget proposes for example:-

keeping Westminster House open;
putting £1million back into Supporting People, which with the £1.9m still to be properly used for this service rather than other services restores the Cabinet proposed cut entirely;
reversing over £0.5million of the cuts to budgets for vulnerable and homeless people;
cushioning the Council's withdrawl from care facilities like Haylands Farm, Osel and the Riverside and Medina Centres;
reducing the residents car park permit increase to £50 pa less than the leadership proposes, with pensioners still entitled to a £50 permit;
reinstating the youth music service subsidy;
recognising that financial support to unions cannot credibly be cut;
reinstating a budget for public realm works;
and restoring capacity to the Highways service.

Cllr Lumley said, "Although I was intending to do this Alternative Budget on my own I am pleased that a number of independent councillors, and particularly Ian Stephens were keen to be involved. Ian has been a real support. Consequently we have a proposal that addresses a very wide range of spending areas. This is a budget alternative that addresses climate change issues more robustly, as well as redirecting bureaucratic expenditure towards services for vulnerable people. That is what many Islanders want and I hope that this alternative will command wide support in the community if not the Council Chamber. I would have liked to do more, but the mess the Council's finances are in after the last 5 years will take some time to tackle. "

END

ABSENCE OF JUDGEMENT

I had been getting back into blogging, when the storms hit........

The Council demand that Mark Chiverton (prospective Labour parliamentary candidate for the Island) either resign his candidacy or resign his job at the Council came like a bolt from the blue - much like some of the budget cuts the Tories are proposing (more separately).

Anyone who reads Island blogs or online news will know most of this sorry tale. Suffice to say that Mark is a truthful person and in this case there is no sensible reason for even a serial liar to lie. Additionally I have seen the emails and heard subsequent witness evidence.

What is beyond doubt is the entire absence of judgment displayed by either or both of the Council's Leader and the Chief Executive when they decided to go down this particular undemocratic road. Its not as if this Council can afford much more bad publicity.

This matter isn't going to go away...................................