John Brace | A blog about Wirral Council, Wirral Council's councillors & officers

Wirral Council – Wirral Council 23rd May 2011 – Part 13 – speech (Cllr Steve Foulkes) on being made Leader of Wirral Council

Cllr Foulkes said he was a proud man to be in that position [of Leader of Wirral Council]. He thanked his predecessor Cllr Jeff Green. He said he knew what it was like to make tough decisions. He said that [Cllr Green] had a sense of humour and had done what he thought best. He … Continue reading “Wirral Council – Wirral Council 23rd May 2011 – Part 13 – speech (Cllr Steve Foulkes) on being made Leader of Wirral Council”

Cllr Foulkes said he was a proud man to be in that position [of Leader of Wirral Council]. He thanked his predecessor Cllr Jeff Green. He said he knew what it was like to make tough decisions. He said that [Cllr Green] had a sense of humour and had done what he thought best. He also thanked Simon Holbrook and said he had put his arm around him at the count in Birkenhead as he had looked dejected. However Simon had told him he could now get his life back.

He said the leadership style doesn’t have to be at each other’s throats, just to get a kick out of it. He said he found the FoulkesWirral [he meant the FoulkesWorld Twitter account] insulting to this. Cllr Green had landed him with an impossible task. He referred to £5 million and said there was a polite difference as to who to blame. Cllr Foulkes said they should have protested at the government. He said they needed to stand up to the new [Coalition Con/Lib Dem] government and asked why? Why was it on deprivation funding that Dorset had lost only £91/head whereas Liverpool had lost £161/head? He carried on saying that people had seen the figures and think it’s a raw deal.

He blamed his own [Labour] government for not having locked in specific grants, which then became a target for the cuts. He said it was disproportionate to other people. He acknowledged the need to make savings, but not to services people love. He had not seen the plans when the Leader of the Council….

Cllr Jeff Green interrupted and corrected him to former leader.

Cllr Steve Foulkes continued with his view that frontline services could get slower or less regular. He said 1,300 people had left. He said the people left behind were working harder, but had not had much choice regarding redundancy and getting a job elsewhere. In the private sector redundancy was like holding the sword of Damocles over someone’s head. Morale was at a low level. As a consequence there were difficult decisions moving forward. However he was not going to war. He said they needed to get their heads together as party leaders and go to the Government minister regarding the funding formula. He was not asking for funds to be replenished. However he was asking that money be distributed in a progressive Labour way regarding deprivation funding and poor and vulnerable people.

Wirral Council – Wirral Council 23rd May 2011 – Part 12 – speech (Cllr Adrian Jones) on leader motion

Cllr Adrian Jones then said he hoped people would support the position that the Conservatives almost sought to prolong. He thanked Cllr Lewis for the gracious way [he referred to Labour in his speech] and his past association with Pat Hackett. He asked if Ian Lewis was willing to revise that. Cllr Ian Lewis replied that he wasn’t that desperate.

The Mayor said [following advice from the Borough Solicitor Bill Norman] that it was safest to have a separate vote first to remove the leader and then one on who the new leader would be rather than the motion as a whole.

The first vote was to remove Cllr Jeff Green and Leader of Wirral Council. This vote was along party lines.

Labour councillors (for) 30
Conservative councillors (against) 26
Lib Dem councillors (abstain) 9

So the vote was carried by four votes and Cllr Jeff Green was removed as Leader of Wirral Council. The next motion was to choose Steve Foulkes as leader of Wirral Council. A card vote was requested. The voting was against along party lines.

Labour councillors (for) 30
Conservative councillors (against) 26
Lib Dem councillors (abstain) 9

So the vote to appoint Cllr Steve Foulkes as Leader of Wirral Council was carried by 4 votes. In total from the start of the meeting it took 98 minutes to get to this point!

The Mayor asked Cllr Steve Foulkes if he accepted the nomination to be Leader of Wirral Council. He did.

Wirral Council – Wirral Council 23rd May 2011 – Part 11 – speech (Cllr Lesley Rennie) on leader motion/amendment

She asked for a pledge to protect the libraries, leisure centres and other council facilities. She asked would they protect vulnerable old people? She said the CQC [under the last Labour administration] had inspected how they run services for vulnerable old people. The CQC had rated Wirral Council’s Social Services department as 152nd out of 152 councils. However changes had been made. How can people rely and trust [Labour] if they can’t protect vulnerable old people? “Time will tell.” she said.

The Mayor asked Cllr Phil Davies (proposer of the motion) if he wished to have his right of reply. Cllr Phil Davies waived it. She asked the Conservatives if there was an apology regarding the councillor not there. Cllr Blakeley said an apology had been received, but that he had got the message late and asked for it to be added to the list of apologies.

Cllr Blakeley then requested a card vote. [A card vote is where they list the name of each councillor and how they voted].

The Conservative amendment was voted on first. The split was along party lines.

The thirty Labour councillors voted against. The twenty six Conservative councillors voted for. The nine Liberal Democrat councillors abstained.

FOR 26
AGAINST 30
ABSTAIN 9

The Conservative amendment was therefore lost by four votes.

Wirral Council – Wirral Council 23rd May 2011 – Part 10 – speech (Cllr Lesley Rennie) on leader motion/amendment

Cllr Rennie next to speak said “If it was true [in relation to the Foulkesworld Twitter account] she was really worried, however she thought it was the product of a twisted mind. She said there had been signs of progress and that never before had the Council, staff, officers and residents worked together. She said they had run things in an open and transparent manner and hoped it would continue. Never in [Wirral Council’s] previous history had there been such a wide consultation exercise. The wishes of the people had been carried out or if impossible they had been written to. The next administration had to engage openly and honestly. Cllr Green’s leadership had supported a strong and able Cabinet with the support of the Liberal Democrats. However not here today were three Lib Dem former Cabinet members [Gill Gardiner, Bob Moon, Simon Holbrook]. She was concerned that a new administration would take Wirral Council back to the “bad old days” driven by dogma.

She said whenever a party is in government that members of that party who are local councillors suffer. She referred to John Major telling Conservative councillors in 1995 to take a sabbatical and that it may be a while. After 24 years, Wirral Council was Conservative led, run for the people of Wirral. She took a dim view of the Lib Dems and said there were not nine empty seats as there had been in 1991. She said she couldn’t imagine they were elected to Wirral Council to sit on their hands. Cllr Rennie repeated they were not elected to sit on their hands, but thought perhaps they had lost the glue that kept them together under the strong leadership of Simon Holbrook, deputy leader Gill Gardiner, Bob Moon and Stuart Kelly (who had been to one Cabinet meeting). She said it would be a shame to be tearing things apart when they had been willing to challenge when necessary.

Wirral Council – Wirral Council 23rd May 2011 – Part 9 – speeches (Cllr Dave Mitchell & Cllr Chris Blakeley) on leader motion/amendment

Cllr Dave Mitchell (Deputy Leader, Lib Dem Group) said he had stood up against his own group regarding the library fiasco. No fingers had been burnt but soon he hoped it would be put to bed. The last administration had brought benefits to the people of Wirral. However we needed to look into the reality of the election and where [the Lib Dems] sit. He agree with Cllr Harney that they were now the smallest group. He said it was a cheap shot of the Conservatives as when they had been in opposition as the largest Group there had been all party support for a minority administration but they had turned it down.

Dave said they needed to move forward and the electorate had spoken. A tsunami had hit the Liberal Democrats, who were affected badly and had lost councillors as had the Conservatives. The Labour Party had fought on national issues not local issues. The Lib Dems would be making sure they were doing the right thing.

Cllr Chris Blakeley said it was an honour to be the last speaker. He said he won’t repeat what people have said. He thanked Cllr Green and the support from the Liberal Democrats. He said they had moved things forward in change local government as well as removing more items from exemption. They hadn’t waived as many call-ins. He said he was confused by the Lib Dems who had stated they were proud of their achievements over the last twelve months, but said there was a lot more to be achieved. He considered a Labour administration as a backward step.

Reminding people of the Strategic Change Programme, the Care Quality Commission report, swimming pools he pointed out that 60% of people hadn’t voted. If this was added to the people who had voted it was a mandate. He wanted to let people know about the FoulkesWorld Twitter account and said if this motion was agreed Wirral would go into Foulkes’ world.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: