Do Cllr Christina Muspratt’s election expenses add up (a councillor who is on Wirral Council’s Audit and Risk Management Committee overseeing ÂŁbillions of public money)?

Do Cllr Christina Muspratt’s election expenses add up (a councillor who is on Wirral Council’s Audit and Risk Management Committee overseeing ÂŁbillions of public money)?

Do Cllr Christina Muspratt’s election expenses add up (a councillor who is on Wirral Council’s Audit and Risk Management Committee overseeing ÂŁbillions of public money)?

                      

I’ve decided to publish the election expenses by ward alphabetically. However these are only for candidates who got over a quarter of the vote.

There was a small delay in inspecting these returns due to the pressures on the election side at Wirral Council due to the EU Referendum.


The first one is for Bebington ward and that of Christina Muspratt (the Labour candidate) who was elected as a councillor.

Cllr Christina Muspratt sits on Wirral Council’s Audit and Risk Management Committee overseeing hundreds of millions of pounds of public expenditure and also (as Wirral Council is the Administering Authority) the multi-billion pound Merseyside Pension Fund Wirral Council runs (although the Pensions Committee also have oversight of the Merseyside Pension Fund)).

However her donations and spending don’t match in the pages below.

Her campaign lists ÂŁ243.06 of spending (although some notional spending should’ve also been declared but mysteriously wasn’t as the printing of leaflets at Alison McGovern‘s office (the Labour MP for Wirral South) was done at below commercial rates)).

Indeed the use of taxpayer-funded resources at Wirral Council and at Alison McGovern’s office (the Labour MP for Wirral South) is odd as generally there is a bar on taxpayer-funded elements to party political activity during elections and indeed if people would like to leave comments explaining this it would be welcome.

As a general rule having the taxpayer fund elements of an election campaign (a party political matter) is seen as wrong.

There are however only ÂŁ150 in donations to cover this spending though. I hope Labour aren’t applying this kind of voodoo economics to Wirral Council too!

The declarations signed by herself and her agent are also included. As she was well under the spending limit (even if you include what the notional expenditure should’ve been) of ÂŁ1,456.16 it’s unlikely anything that this will result other than mild embarrassment as in future (hopefully) she will read things before signing them!

I’ve included the originals as a zipped file below, thumbnails of the return (which as a lot of it’s handwritten may be hard to read) are below that.

I’ve linked each thumbnail to a higher resolution image which should show if you click on the thumbnail.

Compressed file of all 20 original pages in election expenses return for Christina Muspratt (thumbnails below)

Bebington May 2016 Wirral Council councillor candidate Christina Muspratt agent declaration Page 1 of 1
Bebington May 2016 Wirral Council councillor candidate Christina Muspratt agent declaration Page 1 of 1

Continue reading “Do Cllr Christina Muspratt’s election expenses add up (a councillor who is on Wirral Council’s Audit and Risk Management Committee overseeing ÂŁbillions of public money)?”

Why has Wirral Council sunk deeper into the quagmire of poor corporate governance surrounding a complaint about Cllr Steve Foulkes?

Why has Wirral Council sunk deeper into the quagmire of poor corporate governance surrounding a complaint about Cllr Steve Foulkes?

Why has Wirral Council sunk deeper into the quagmire of poor corporate governance surrounding a complaint about Cllr Steve Foulkes?

    
          
          
          
      

Councillor Steve Foulkes talks about the Mersey Ferries at a meeting of the Merseytravel Committee 7th January 2016
Councillor Steve Foulkes (left) talks about the Mersey Ferries at a meeting of the Merseytravel Committee 7th January 2016

Last night yours truly was witness to another spectacular example of democracy at Wirral Council gone wrong. Indeed from democracy being on merely life support, last night seems to have been an attempt to kill it stone dead.

In fact things have got so bad I am officially on strike for part of my job (Leonora can deal with things during this period), but I thought you should realise the reasons why (outlined below).

First, there needs to be some background to this. Panels which decide on complaints about councillors have in the past been decided in public despite officers’ recommendation otherwise such as this meeting in 2012 about an allegedly homophobic comment made by former Cllr Denis Knowles on Facebook.

On Monday evening, at a public meeting of all of Wirral Council’s councillors opposition councillors in the Lib Dem and Conservative parties referred to Labour’s plans to hold more meetings behind closed doors as wrong. The Conservative councillor David Elderton used the quote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.

However within less than 24 hours, Cllr Moira McLaughlin (Labour), Cllr Chris Blakeley (Conservative) and Cllr Phil Gilchrist (Lib Dems) were indeed having a private meeting behind closed doors about a complaint made about Cllr Steve Foulkes (Labour). There was indeed also one of the independent people (Brian Cummings) to oversee the process, although he too wasn’t invited to all of the meeting which was being held in private.

The rationale for having this meeting behind closed doors relies on Wirral Council exercising a legal power that was repealed by the government years ago. However the public must realise by now that that there’s an attitude at Wirral Council of completely ignoring the legal position by people who don’t care about the constitutional checks and balances on their power. Having in the past years cross examined both Wirral Council’s Monitoring Officer Mr Tour at a recent First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) hearing and a Wirral Council councillor (Cllr Alan Brighouse) as a defendant in the Birkenhead County Court, I know how strange the culture at Wirral Council is seen by the judiciary and how exasperating the judiciary seem to find the culture at Wirral Council.

Wirral Council exercising a legal power they do not have has become so routine!

The complaint was about Cllr Steve Foulkes, who had brought his legal representative along with him. Cllr Foulkes and his legal representative were allowed to address the Panel in closed session as to why it should not be held in public.

The public however (although technically Cllr Foulkes’ legal representative is also a member of the public) were not invited in so that their side could be heard. Some voices of course at Wirral Council are heard more loudly than others.

Previously Cllr Foulkes, referred to "natural justice" at Wirral Council shortly before the opposition councillors removed him as Leader of Wirral Council. Indeed this is an example of how politicians say one thing on Monday evening, yet behave differently on Tuesday evening.

Indeed getting Wirral Council to stick to its own constitution with its goals of consultation and openness when a "legal representative" is allowed to influence the Panel otherwise is impossible.

All the Panel members are drawn from Wirral Council’s Standards and Constitutional Oversight Committee. Indeed it was at the last public meeting of that Committee that the Panel Members were decided.

Despite s.100/s.100E of the Local Government Act 1972 requiring sub-committees to meet in public (even if they then decide to exclude the public) and there being multiple legal representatives at this meeting to offer the Panel advice, Wirral Council seems to instead insist that we provide "evidence" that a sub-committee is a sub-committee and indeed of their legal obligations to hold sub-committees in public.

Indeed as evidence I quote from their own minutes of the Standards Committee meeting held on the 4th July 2011, which can be read on their website here:

"The Director of Law, HR and Asset Management informed the Committee that the report at Item No. 7 on the agenda – Review of a Recent Standards Complaint – had marked on it, in error, a paragraph (7c) of Part 1 to Schedule 12A of the local Government Act 1972 that did not exist."

Indeed if it is a sub-committee the legal requirement for 5 days published notice of the meeting and its agenda weren’t given either.

However for the last 5 years, Wirral Council’s councillors have relied on a legal provision that Bill Norman (previous Monitoring Officer) told them in 2011 "does not exist" as the reason for holding complaints about councillors behind closed doors.

Despite numerous revisions of their constitution they haven’t bothered to update it to take this out.

The Monitoring Officer commented on my views on this at the last public meeting of the Standards and Constitutional Oversight Committee in response to a letter I wrote. He and I unfortunately disagree on a few points.

Sadly the main questions in that letter were left unanswered which led to the impasse last night. However despite the Monitoring Officer having legal obligations (see s.5A Local Government and Housing Act 1989), advising the panel was the Monitoring Officer’s line manager, the Deputy Monitoring Officer Joe Blott (Strategic Director for Transformation and Resources). For anyone reading this who’s not aware, the Strategic Director level at Wirral Council is basically someone who is line managed by the Chief Executive.

So it’s completely understandable that Mr. Tour can’t intervene when it involves his own line manager! After all even I wouldn’t be stupid enough to cheese off my line manager!

However, back to the meeting of the Panel itself. The meeting was adjourned, then Cllr Foulkes was invited back in. We went back to Committee Room 2 with him at about 6.50 pm, only for Cllr Foulkes to be asked to leave and for us to get shouted at.

Because of course the culture at Wirral Council is one of shouting at people. Since Emma Degg left (she was in charge of the public relations side of Wirral Council) there’s been a power vacuum (which perhaps partly explains this recent plan agreed on Monday morning for a Wirral Council newssheet being sent to residents monthly). Kevin McCallum does his best but after years of the press being bullied by politicians and frankly too much bad news to report on at Wirral Council relations between Wirral Council and the press have been problematic.

Indeed views were expressed to me that evening that employees would rather be getting on with their jobs rather than having to deal with meetings at Wallasey Town Hall.

The person who made this complaint (Cllr Jeff Green) along with the person it was about (Cllr Steve Foulkes) along with us (myself and Leonora Brace) were not allowed to go into the “meeting” in the two hours we were kept waiting apart from what I referred to earlier.

Possibly one or both were invited in after we left.

Oh and I forgot to say, Mr. Tour has advised councillors could (or possibly would) be subject to disciplinary procedures if they talk to the press about these matters.

So what is Cllr Foulkes accused of? He can’t tell us. He’s been gagged.

What is in Cllr Green’s complaint? He can’t tell us. He’s been gagged.

What are the Panel’s views (Cllr Moira McLauglin, Cllr Chris Blakeley and Cllr Phil Gilchrist) on the matter and indeed what was decided? You’re not allowed to know.

Indeed if the Panel decides Cllr Foulkes did nothing wrong and he decides he doesn’t want the decision made public indeed we may never know!

And the above sums up why it is getting nearly impossible to my job reporting on Wirral Council. I think it’s about time I started publishing election expenses returns instead, starting with two councillors who were on the Panel…

Updated 11th July 2016: I have made a FOI request for some of the documents for this meeting here.

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What did the Mayor of Wirral put in his letter to councillors asking them to behave better?

What did the Mayor of Wirral put in his letter to councillors asking them to behave better?

What did the Mayor of Wirral put in his letter to councillors asking them to behave better?

                                          

BeeQuiet and Beehave from Stoppit and Tidy Up
BeeQuiet and Beehave from Stoppit and Tidy Up

When I was younger there was a cartoon called Stoppit and Tidy Up (yes I realise I’m showing my age) narrated by the late Terry Wogan.

In it were two characters called BeeQuiet and BeeHave (hence the picture above).

Prior to last night’s Council meeting, a copy of a letter from the Mayor was put on all 66 councillors’ desks, then orders from above meant the copies were gathered back in again, only to be handed out again later.

At the actual meeting itself Labour councillors voted to reduce the scrutiny function at Wirral Council and reduce the number of scrutiny committees from four to three. This was opposed by the Green councillor, Lib Dem councillors and Conservative councillors.

However the letter from the Mayor to councillors is a "BeeQuiet and BeeHave" letter.

There were also speeches from each of the three party leaders about the EU Referendum.

Video of the first part of the Council meeting is included below the letter, I will add the second part once it has uploaded.

letter from Mayor of Wirral Cllr Pat Hackett to councillors on Wirral Council 27th June 2016 Page 1 of 2
letter from Mayor of Wirral Cllr Pat Hackett to councillors on Wirral Council 27th June 2016 Page 1 of 2
letter from Mayor of Wirral Cllr Pat Hackett to councillors on Wirral Council 27th June 2016 Page 2 of 2
letter from Mayor of Wirral Cllr Pat Hackett to councillors on Wirral Council 27th June 2016 Page 2 of 2

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Council (Wirral Council) 27th June 2016 EU Referendum and changes to scrutiny Part 1 of 2

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Council (Wirral Council) 27th June 2016 changes to scrutiny Part 2 of 2

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Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr Phil Gilchrist calls for cross-party unity on Wirral Council on issue of EU funding withdrawal

Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr Phil Gilchrist calls for cross-party unity on Wirral Council on issue of EU funding withdrawal

Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr Phil Gilchrist calls for cross-party unity on Wirral Council on issue of EU funding withdrawal

                                                

Below is an email from Cllr Phil Gilchrist (Liberal Democrat Leader on Wirral Council) to Cllr Phil Davies (Leader of Wirral Council).

It asks for a unified cross-party approach on Wirral Council to the issue of EU funding if the UK withdraws from the EU.

Cllr Phil Davies did make some remarks at the start of the Cabinet meeting this morning, but the video is yet to upload at the time of writing.

Cllr Phil Gilchrist (Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group) speaking at the Extraordinary meeting of Wirral Council on the 4th of April 2016
Cllr Phil Gilchrist (Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group) speaking at the Extraordinary meeting of Wirral Council on the 4th of April 2016


From: Gilchrist, Phil N. (Councillor) <philgilchrist@wirral.gov.uk>
Sent: 25 June 2016 14:40
To: Davies, Phil L (Councillor) <phildavies@wirral.gov.uk>

Good afternoon Phil
I have begun to pick myself up after the outcome of the Referendum, an outcome neither of us desired.
However the result is what it is and I’ve no idea when the Government will set Article 50 in motion.

In the meantime I would welcome any briefing papers you can supply on the on the European funding stream that exist currently
I expect there will be streams we have expected and planned / hoped for and still are working to gain for Wirral and the region.
I say working to gain as I feel we have to start work on this!

With Cabinet coming up on Monday morning I expect you will want to address this, possibly under any other business / urgency.

Thinking on these lines would suggest that a statement to Cabinet, a referral or Motion to Council might run along these lines…
.
Council/Cabinet recognises that funding is currently available for a range of projects, training and investments to support our local and regional economy.
Council is, as with many other bodies, is uncertain on how the funding streams might be replaced, and when but believe arrangements must be made to
secure equivalent replacement funding.
Council therefore calls on the present Government to clarify the situation, offer certainty to our region, and continue the programmes as
envisaged. Council asks for assurances that the UK Government and any successor will match pound for pound any funding stream that are now at risk as a result of the Referendum.

Ideally each group on the Council would accept a formula to present a united approach from Wirral and the region. I would be happy to develop the wording in consultation.

. At various times in the recent campaign various ‘Leave’ people suggested that money would be ‘freed’ for the NHS, Agriculture, etc.

I cannot recall seeing whether ‘regional’ aid got the same treatment!

I will be home on 334 1923 on Sunday evening if you would like to have a word.

Phil Gilchrist

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36575503

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/665989/Brexit-British-farmers-EU-red-tape-subsidies-farming-minister-George-Eustice

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/24/uk-environment-ministers-at-odds-over-brexit-impact-on-farming


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Councillors on Wirral Council’s Labour Cabinet to make decision today on public consultation over changes to green bin collection and food waste collection from Wirral’s residents

Councillors on Wirral Council’s Labour Cabinet to make decision today on public consultation over changes to green bin collection and food waste collection from Wirral’s residents

Councillors on Wirral Council’s Labour Cabinet to make decision today on public consultation over changes to green bin collection and food waste collection from Wirral’s residents

                             

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Councillors on the Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority (Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority) discussed the upcoming decision by Wirral Council’s Cabinet on Friday afternoon (24th June 2016) at item 14 (Waste Composition Analysis) which starts at 14 minutes 30 seconds into the meeting.

Left: Councillor Steve Williams (Conservative, Wirral Council) describes at a public meeting of the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority the effect on his neighbour with 6 children of proposed changes to bin collections Right: Councillor Tony Norbury (Labour, Wirral Council)
Left: Councillor Steve Williams (Conservative, Wirral Council) describes at a public meeting of the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority the effect on his neighbour with 6 children of proposed changes to bin collections Right: Councillor Tony Norbury (Labour, Wirral Council)

A meeting of Wirral Council’s Labour Cabinet this morning (if you are reading this on the 27th June 2016) will (amongst other matters) decide on whether to consult on two options to changes to how waste is collected in the future on the Wirral.

These are the two shortlisted options that look likely to be consulted on.

Continue reading “Councillors on Wirral Council’s Labour Cabinet to make decision today on public consultation over changes to green bin collection and food waste collection from Wirral’s residents”