Tory Whip Wins the Votes

July

29

10 comments

blue rosette

It was a long and frustrating evening in the Council Chamber tonight. The Tories won all the key votes – but by a narrower margin than they would have liked:

Chris Black proposed keeping firm minimum standards for the sizes of new flats and houses – vote was lost 17-12.

Toby Mountain proposed cancelling the increases in car parking charges – vote was lost 19 -11. So car parking charges are still going up, though Saturday afternoons stay free.

Tory Leader Terry Cutmore proposed abolishing the right of any 3 councillors to refer a cabinet member decision to Full Council – this was passed 20 -11. A sad day for local democracy.

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  • Disappointing but no surprise , the compliant Conservative majority has the whip-hand ( literally ) – but you know what I think there is a growing Chamber and Public dawning as to what is going on at RDC.
    Although losing decisions there are ( apart from Toby’s independence ) a few more
    dissenting in the voting lately , as you say they probably expected more than 20-11.

    Waiting for Council elections to pick off a few more ‘ cabinet compliant ‘ Councillors will take to long the obvious big hope is the General Election will throw up some shocks locally and get someone ( anyone ) to fight our corner on a broader front.

    Keep going Chris and Co……

  • Cllr Terry Cutmore (The Leader of the Council) confirmed last night that he is proud to be associated with statements which only show half the facts (re:Essex Tracker Survey) I don’t know why I’m surprised! Last night the Conservative group showed themselves (once again) to be an absolute disgrace!

  • I think mention should be made that “LIB DEM” Cllr Lumley “ABSTAINED” on the cark parking fees, and in fact voted “FOR” with the Tories on the Referral vote…….maybe she or another lib-dem could explain

  • Richard @3 – I can’t explain , except to say that the Lib Dems genuinely don’t have a whip, which leads to situations where we vote against each other when we view things differently

  • I’m not surprised at this either!
    The “common” person doesn’t matter anymore, except when we get near to voting day!
    Democracy is being slowly but surely eroded. One day we’ll all wake up, let’s hope it’s not too late!

  • I’m not surprised, but I am saddened by it. I was looking at the photo of the 113 men who returned from WW1 and wondering how many didn’t. Over the years so many people have fought and died, from Mrs Pankhurst and her Suffragettes through to the dead of two world wars to keep this country free and democratic, free from tyranny. In a way what the Tory administration of RDC have done is erode and denigrate that sacrifice, only in a small way in the overall scheme of things, but a lot of small ways add up to a very big way. I am reminded of the saying “all that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing”. Over dramatic – well possibly, but it feels like the thin end of a very big wedge.

  • Well put Christine , and the fight for the common man did’nt end in 1918 – my grandfather returned wounded and classified as “unfit” so could’nt get a job in
    civvi -street.
    he and lots like him joined unions / developed the Labour Party and fought long and
    hard ( General Strike / Jarrow Hunger March etc; ) against the ruling class in order
    to earn a living.
    What goes around comes around and once Tony Blair turned Labour into light blue
    outfit there is no real opposition and slowly but surely we are moving back to a ruling class – RDC is a prime example. ( and no I don’t see Ed Milliband as any different to
    Blair & Co ) so not a solution.

  • The silence from our invisible MP ( can hardly remember his name ) is deafening. Does he have an opinion on this, come to think of it does he have an opinion on anything ?

  • I don’t think he has an opinion on anything Oz unless there is a photo opportunity involved, he seems very good at those. In fact I think he’s probably paid not to have opinions, just do what he’s told. Not a lot of difference between central Government and RDC in that respect. He needs to start thinking though. This needs to be widely publicised and once people realise what is going on and the already evident unrest and unhappiness with the current local Tory administration spreads even more he might find it impacts on his majority at the next election, especially of Mr Farrage keeps going from strength to strength in the Essex Man (and woman) areas.

  • What surprises me the most is that the word Democracy is still a word and actually listed in the English Dictionary. I shall take a snapshot of the names and the way they voted on the 3rd point and keep my fingers crossed that some of them knock on my door in the run up to the GE. In the interim I just hope that a Walter Tyler soon makes himself known.

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