Quote:
Originally Posted by Tealeaf
I think it's a little bit more important than gaining respect (whatever that means in a political context) from the public. Irrespective of party allegiances, we expect our elected representatives to fully engage in the democratic process when reaching the decisions that affect us all. Attempts to sabotage and undermine that process can take various forms in the non-democratic spectrum, of which violent rioting lies in the middle and terrorism at one end. At the other end is the deliberate disruption of meetings of elected bodies, such as occured yesterday and as such it is my opinion that those involved in such actions should be barred from participation when and until they learn the rules.
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It was voted on in fairly rapid succession to bar Cllr Britcliffe from further participation in further events of the meeting and then to expel him from the chamber altogether. In fairness to the Mayor, proper procedure was followed and Cllr Britcliffe was given ample opportunity to mollify his own behaviour. It's just worth remembering that this is the same man who up until four weeks ago was in control of the entire borough and also had aspirations to represent us in Westminster as our local MP.
The only way to eradicate the possibility of having Cllr Britcliffe as Leader of the Council again in future is to vote any which way but blue and I say that with genuine regret because there are still one or two decent Tory councillors in Hyndburn.
I've had a meeting with one of them, Cllr Walmsley, this morning.