Hastings Tories 'defying wishes of voters'

10:16am Friday 16th May 2008

Comments (18)   Have your say »

A new council cabinet is entirely true blue Tory - despite more than half of voters choosing other parties The Conservatives got just 9,530 of a possible 62,083 votes at the elections on May 1.

The Conservatives hold 15 of the 32 seats and won just 42% of votes cast, yet have complete control of the decision making cabinet. Labour have 13 seats, the Liberal Democrats three and there is also one Independent.

At the first council meeting of the year at the White Rock Theatre on Wednesday, councillors voted 17 to 16 to reduce the size of the cabinet to six, comprising only Conservative councillors.

The Liberal Democrats and Labour joined forces to vote against the proposal which was supported by sole Independent and former Conservative, coun Stephen Springhtorpe.

Tory Mayor Maureen Charlesworth's deciding vote tipped the balance in favour of the Conservatives.

Leader of the Labour party coun Jeremy Birch said the move was totally inappropriate.

He said: "The Tories are directly defying the wishes of the voters of the town by bulldozing an all Conservative cabinet through. It is shameful.

"Whether the political parties like it or not the people of Hastings have elected a hung council with no party holding a majority of seats. By taking every seat on the key decision-making cabinet the Tories are saying to the voters we don't care what you think we know better.

"They were only able to get away with this by using the Mayorís casting vote and enticing the one independent to compromise his claim to independence by lining up with them. What sort of independent is it who deliberately allows a single party cabinet?"

Coun Birch had moved an amendment for the cabinet to comprise four Conservatives, four Labour and one Liberal Democrat but it was also voted out.

He said the composition of the cabinet was not about numbers but about policies and having a council leadership that listened to the needs of the electorate.

Coun Birch has put forward a motion to restore the 9am start for pensioners' free bus fares after the previous cabinet changed it to 9.30am.

He added: "Anyone who has now helped the Tories take every seat on the cabinet has voted to keep the 9.30am start for we know they won't change the start time back.

"Anyone who has helped them take every seat on the cabinet has also voted against providing free travel for our disabled residents on dial-a-ride."

Labour's coun Godfrey Daniel said he had wanted to see a balanced cabinet, reminding councillors they were in Hastings, not Zimbabwe.

Council leader Peter Pragnell, who was re-elected, said: "It's called democracy. We got more votes than Labour on Wednesday and of course at the election too.

"We are the largest party yet coun Birch proposed an equal number of Conservative and Labour councillors on the cabinet.

"We have a higher vote and a higher number of members than him.

"When he was last in control he had only four cabinet members and the workload was far too high so we proposed six members."

Hastings Borough Council's new all-Conservative all-male cabinet now comprises couns Peter Pragnell, Matthew Beaver, Peter Finch, Robert Cooke, Matthew Lock, and Roy Tucker.

Is democracy dead in Hastings? Have your say below.