Liberal Democrat Councillors have today twice walked
out of the full council meeting in Gateshead in protest at motions moved by
Labour that they believe bring the Council into disrepute.
The first motion by Labour demands that the Council
endorses the party political election campaign of their Police and Crime
Commissioner (PCC) candidate Kim McGuinness who won the Northumbria by-election
in July.
The Labour motion claims:
“We believe that Kim McGuinness brought forward a
detailed and clear vision for how
policing needs to change, that she ran a
professional and high-minded campaign for
office and proved herself an articulate campaigner.”
The motion goes on to call on council officers to “write
to the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner to ask her to require the
police to record misogyny as a hate crime in their day-to-day activities”.
Liberal Democrats point out that PCCs are not
allowed, by law, to intervene in day-to-day policing and operational matters
and therefore the motion calls on her to do something which she is not
permitted to do.
The second Labour motion calls on the Council to
back a Labour Party policy and campaign on Standard Attainment Tests in
schools. Again, Liberal Democrats argue that the Council should not be drawn
into endorsing party political campaigns.
Cllr Ron Beadle, Deputy Leader of the Opposition
Liberal Democrat group, said, “It is not the role of any public body to endorse
the election campaign of any party political candidate.
“We believe this to be a wholly inappropriate use of
the Council and public resources. I know of no other council or public body
that has endorsed the campaign of a party political candidate who stood in a
public election.
“Liberal Democrats in Gateshead cannot and will not
lend legitimacy to these two motions which should have been ruled out of order
by the Mayor. For that reason, we left the council chamber rather than assist
Labour in potentially bringing the authority into disrepute.”
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