Labour 'will report' Tina

Ashleigh Burns • Published 5 Jul 2012 09:30 2 Comments

CLACKMANNANSHIRE'S Labour Group stormed out of a full council meeting last week.

Tensions arose when provost Tina Murphy moved to allow an SNP amendment to a decision made less than six months ago.

The amendment was with regards to appointments made to the joint police, fire and valuation boards and COSLA, and it sought to remove all Labour representation.

SNP said the motion came after Labour went back on agreements that were made in relation to appointments and that the group had "broken trust".

Labour hit back, saying that it believes a desire for retribution on the part of the SNP, who wanted to see their deputy leader Craig Holden appointed as chair of the valuation board, was the driving factor.

SNP council leader, councillor Gary Womersley, though, described the behaviour of the Labour Group as "juvenile and irresponsible".

He said, "Provost Murphy took legal advice from a council clerk as to whether the motion was admissible and following this advice, she determined that it was competent.

"Clearly still suffering from not being in administration, the Labour Group lacked the maturity to abide by the provost's decision, and left the council chambers. They've brought themselves into disrepute by seeking to attack the provost, who was merely applying legal advice given.

"The behaviour of the main opposition group was both juvenile and irresponsible as there were important decisions to be made during the meeting of the council. By walking out, they were yet again putting party politics above the needs of the people of Clackmannanshire and this is negligent and unacceptable."

However, an angry an unrepentant councillor Bobby McGill, leader of the Labour Group, said he would be reporting councillor Murphy to the Standards Commission following her actions.

He commented, "I am stunned that provost Tina Murphy forgot she was the provost and acted in a purely partisan manner by allowing herself to be forced to support the Nationalist leader of the council, Gary Womersley, in his quest for supremacy in the area.

"It is absolutely disgraceful that provost Murphy is content to be a puppet of the SNP leader who is out to make a name for himself before the next Scottish Parliament elections.

"The abuse of the position of provost and leader only weeks after council elections suggests that for the rest of this term their priority will not be running Clackmannanshire but bullying everyone to make sure they get their own

way and I am sure this is not what the voters want.

"We are left with no alternative other than to take this matter to the Standards Commission for an in depth and independent investigation."

Councillor Janet Cadenhead added that walking out of a council meeting was the "last action" that any Labour councillor had ever thought of doing.

"We are here to represent the interests and concerns of the people of Clackmannanshire, not stage protests," she said.

"But the work can only be done when meetings are conducted in a fair and

impartial manner - after all, the constituents voted for us to represent them in

this way."

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This article appeared in Alloa & Hillfoots Advertiser 04 Jul 12

Have your say. Post a comment on this article.

• 

  AlloaYankee
  Unregistered User
  Jul 5, 21:38
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  Talk about throwing the dummy out of the pram. My my, the labourites are upset, isn't that a shame. They don't like not getting their own way. That is the result of being in power too long. They are used to answering to no one and getting away with it. They totally ignored the electorate on many important matters. Now they are not in charge. What a choker. Learn to treat the electorate the way you would want to be treated. Get rid of the the 'Do as I say, not as I do' mentality.
  
  The people voted in the SNP for a reason, they were sick of getting treated with disrespect time and time again. Now it has all come back to bite you hasn't it. And you don't like it.
  
  Grow up and learn to live with it.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 1     No 0

• 

  muchado
  Unregistered User
  Jul 8, 10:44
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  As a born & bred labour supporter (but one who is now wavering), this most recent tirade by the labour group, clearly demonstrates their lack of backbone as well as the contempt they have for the people, like myself, who elected them.
  
  Bobby McGills remark "It is absolutely disgraceful that provost Murphy is content to be a puppet of the SNP leader" ... is in itself contemptuous, perhaps he could tell us when did Derek Stewart EVER use his casting vote to support an SNP motion or amendment when HE was the provost?? The simple answer is NEVER as he ALWAYS acted in a partisan fashion.
  
  The labour group in Clackmannanshire are seriously wounded by losing the election, maybe they should take time to reflect on precisely WHY they did so poorly at the ballot box, I suggest they start by taking a long hard look at their running of the Council, their employment of a dead duck Chief Executive, the way they treated council employees, their incessant annual hiking of council tax (until the SNP put a stop to it!), the cronyism with local "businessmen", the black holes in the budgets, their screwing up of childcare etc etc etc ..... !!!!!
  
  Recommend?   Yes 2     No 0

• 

  ******
  Aug 6, 00:50
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