Why I voted for a Labour amendment

Last night at the end of the Council meeting I spoke up for and voted for a Labour amendment - the only Conservative Councillor to do so. “Why?” you may well ask, so I’ll do my best to explain.

The last item on the Council’s agenda last night was about the future governance of Birmingham City Council. New legislation has been brought in that meant the Council needed to consider whether to adopt an ‘Elected Mayor with Cabinet’ or a ‘Leader and Cabinet’ system (we currently have a Leader and Cabinet system however we would change to appointing the Leader for a four year term rather than electing them annually as present) and to consult the public on the issue. The motion put forward was to keep the ‘Leader’ system and proposed the bare minimum of public consultation. The Labour amendment was that the issue should be put to a referendum of the people of Birmingham.

I gave a short speech (I’ll paraphrase it below) and the reaction ranged from stunned silence from my colleagues surrounding me, looks of incredulity on the Lib Dem benches and a warm round of applause from the Labour Councillors.

My speech went something like,

“Thank you Lord Mayor,

I rise to speak briefly in favour of this amendment for two reasons.

The first is simply trust, trust in democracy and trust in the people of Birmingham. We represent the people but are not better than them and I believe they deserve to cast judgment on this issue.

The second is that in 8 months there will be a new government and a new Prime Minister who has promised that referendum. In reality the choice before us is whether we have the referendum this year or next?

So we have a chance, here and now, to be first, for Birmingham to lead and for others to follow. However we vote tonight the people of Birmingham will get their referendum, so why wait?

If you believe in democracy, believe in the people of Birmingham and their wisdom and their judgement you have nothing to fear. Support the amendment.

Thank you Lord Mayor”

It is indeed Conservative policy to hold referendums in the twelve largest cities on the issue of Elected Mayors, so why was I the only one to support that policy? It is well known in Birmingham that current Leader, Cllr Mike Whitby (Con), is opposed to the introduction of an Elected Mayor and so it is often perceived that that is the view of the Conservative group as a whole. It is not. But it is up to other councillors to speak for themselves.

So I voted in favour of a Labour amendment that was putting forward Conservative Policy. Politics is sometimes a very strange world to inhabit.

Violence on Birmingham’s Streets

After trouble erupted for a second time there are serious questions to be asked by those in charge.

http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2009/09/07/call-for-inquiry-into-violence-at-birmingham-city-centre-rallies-65233-24622539/

Clearly the police were woefully underprepared despite everyone knowing what was going to happen. Both residents and visitors have been badly let down again and the saying “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” springs to mind. Much shame is hanging around the necks of the police right now.

The Council also needs to look carefully at its role especially when it follows up with the comment “there were obviously difficulties but they never got out of hand”. After a bus is badly vandalised, one mob is barricaded in a pub with another mob outside and over 90 arrests are made it makes me wonder how far up your arse do you have to stick your head to be that blinkered?

But while the shame lies with the police the blame is with the members of the EDL and the anti-fascist movement. Two organisations who start their lying with their own names. An English Defence League that causes damage to an English city! Anti-fascists who use the fascist technique of stopping your political opponents from having a rally/meeting! Neither deserves praise and it is clear that whenever these two groups meet trouble is inevitable.

People and groups are free to hold a peaceful rally to air whatever views they like however repugnant or ignorant those opinions. However if a group (or groups) were involved in a previous rally that turned violent then it is time to stop them from meeting in crowded public areas were people should expect peace and calm.

There was one comment made last week by the police that showed their lack of proper thinking. They claimed to have no power to stop a peaceful protest from taking place but were drafting in extra riot police in preparation. If you know you need the riot police, you know its not going to be peaceful.