Councillor Leah “answer the question” Fraser asks Cllr Adrian “humane” Jones to quantify compulsory redundancies

Councillor Leah “answer the question” Fraser asks Cllr Adrian “humane” Jones to quantify compulsory redundancies

Councillor Leah “answer the question” Fraser asks Cllr Adrian “humane” Jones to quantify compulsory redundancies

                       

I thought I would start my write-up of last night’s Council meeting with a short tale of last night’s Council meeting. This is about the bit where councillors get to ask questions of Cabinet Members and it was Councillor Adrian Jones’ turn.

Conservative councillor Leah Fraser asked him about item 1 on his report. She said that now the date had passed for people to apply for early retirement or voluntary severance had passed, how many compulsory redundancies would there be?

Labour Councillor Adrian Jones replied to Cllr Fraser by reminding her that a previous Conservative administration had made 1,100 staff redundant, to which Cllr Fraser heckled “answer the question”. Then she got told by the Mayor it was not her role to interrogate Cllr Jones to which she replied he’s not answering the question.

Councillor Adrian Jones continued by commenting on what a previous Conservative administration had done and commented on the funding that the government had taken away before moving to other councillor’s questions about the Merseyside Pension Fund and software.

Councillor Leah Fraser was not happy! In fact I’d go so far as to say she looked visibly annoyed. She wanted an answer to her question but how would she get it? So question in hand she got up and strode across the chamber to the Mayor Cllr Foulkes and handed her written question to him. He repeated her question. Cllr Adrian Jones asked him to repeat the question so Cllr Foulkes did and it was asked for a third time.

Cllr Adrian Jones answered that Wirral Council were not making staff redundant but the government was through its cuts and followed up by saying that he felt it was being done on a more “humane basis” that a previous Conservative/Lib Dem administration had done so.

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Author: John Brace

New media journalist from Birkenhead, England who writes about Wirral Council. Published and promoted by John Brace, 134 Boundary Road, Bidston, CH43 7PH. Printed by UK Webhosting Ltd t/a Tsohost, 113-114 Buckingham Avenue, Slough, Berkshire, England, SL1 4PF.

11 thoughts on “Councillor Leah “answer the question” Fraser asks Cllr Adrian “humane” Jones to quantify compulsory redundancies”

  1. G’day John

    Wish I’d seen it.

    Didn’t his usual nod wink and smile work?

    Has he lost his touch or has Wirral finally woke up?

    It didn’t work with “Highbrow” either.

    Ooroo

    James

    1. Well Australia got a mention at the start of the meeting. Seems one of your fellow countrymen was a guest of honour, had volunteered to sit through a Council meeting and had given Wirral Council a boomerang.

      So you see if you’d only said you were from Australia you’d have got a seat next to the Deputy Mayor downstairs 😉 (or maybe you just have to bring a boomerang)!

      Impossible to tell from the public gallery over winks and smiles as Labour councillors have their back to us.

  2. G’day John

    Labor Councillors always show Wirral their fat derrieres.

    I would also rather sit in The Chamber Pot than sit that close to The Dunny Chain Wearer.

    See you next week at The Fudgit It and Risk It Meeting My Favourite Blogger.

    Ooroo

    James

  3. What a shame it’s all done in the name of party political posturing – from both sides – and not just the shrill, manipulative, “whistleblowers’ friend”.

    Absolutely NONE of this huffing and puffing will benefit any single voter on Wirral, and watching them trot out their Punch and Judy routine for the *48,000th time will not engage the public (the public they keep complaining ‘don’t bother turning up the Town Hall through apathy’.

    *Sorry, I keep slipping in this random 48,000 number whenever the opportunity presents itself lately.

    1. Well what with Lyndale, fracking and parking on the agenda the public gallery was over half full (capacity fifty) plus as the public gallery is not disabled friendly there were a number of people in wheelchairs (with carers) in the Council Chamber itself.

      The last Standards Committee talked about standards of behaviour at Council meetings, but what’s changed? Last night had the atmosphere that Council meetings two weeks before elections usually have.

      The sad truth is part of it is the Mayor wasn’t unanimously elected and the fifteen or so people who didn’t vote for him sadly don’t respect his authority. This hampers his ability to chair meetings and bring people to order. The meeting had parts when previous Mayors would have been bashing the gavel down in an attempt to force councillors to behave.

      Labour and their “open and transparent” administration seems to be driving some opposition councillors into being frustrated as they see “open and transparent” as meaning Labour councillors giving political soundbites designed to wind up the other party’s councillors and get them going.

      Truth is though which would you prefer? All four parties agreeing on things (which is suspicious) or the adversarial approach to politics that Wirral has?

      1. Since when did ‘adversarial’ become a synonym for:

        Crooked
        Devious
        Selfish
        Callous
        Dishonest
        Cruel
        Disingenuous
        Secretive
        Uncaring
        Discriminatory
        Toxic
        Soulless
        Accusatory
        Bent
        Arrogant
        Negligent
        Cowardly

        ?

        ‘d prefer honesty

        1. Well honesty is supposed to be one of the seven Nolan principles they’ve all signed up to.

          If an officer tells a politician a lie and the politician repeats it are they genuinely being dishonest though or are they just guilty of being duped?

  4. Labour ought to have given more consideration to the disrepute that Cllr Foulkes suffers from before thumbing its nose at ourselves.

    A tad less patronising would be helpful also- The entire Opposition reprimanded for being irresponsible. I am surprised none crossed the floor to thump Cllr Davies or even walked out.

    1. If I remember correctly, that was the Council meeting before this one, when Labour said that was the reason it should have all the chairs of the scrutiny committees.

      As far as Labour are concerned Foulkes is a “good egg” and only got removed as Leader for party political reasons when he was doing his best to fix things.

      As you point out though, politics can descend to mudslinging.

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