March 24: Lib Dems press for more openness at County Hall
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IT looks
like KCC will face a call next week from the opposition
Liberal Democrats to make a step towards "see
through government" by publishing a monthly statement detailing all
revenue expenditure over £1,000 and all capital expenditure over
£10,000.
I gather that the
Conservative administration is not necessarily
against the principle of the idea but is concerned at certain
practical aspects over its implementation. It could conceivably
involve a fair amount of work and there are some who consider that
without any context, the financial data might be misconstrued or
misinterpreted (not one I agree with - there's already plenty of
financial data that KCC produces that could be misinterpreted on
that basis).
But the Lib Dem motion being
tabled at the full council meeting rather cleverly makes reference
to the fact that the idea has been endorsed by shadow chancellor
George Osborne and intend to highlight the
example of the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who
has taken steps to publish similar monthly financial statements as
an example Kent could follow.
How the GLA publishes its monthly
expenditure>>>
With a general election looming,
there’s undoubtedly a bit of politicking going on here and it’ll be
interesting to see how the Tories respond. My guess is that they’ll
vote down the motion but agree to investigate the idea and ask for
a report themselves.
I can’t help thinking the
Conservatives may regret that they didn’t act before the Lib Dems
tabled the idea but the administration has not always had good
antennae on the issue of openness and transparency.
A clever move by the Lib Dems
finance spokesman Cllr Tim Prater.
Read the text of the Lib Dem motion here>>>
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It wasn’t exactly a giveaway budget but chancellor
Alastair Darling has thrown a few crumbs in the
direction of cash-strapped councils like KCC by promising an
extra £100million for road repairs and fixing
potholes.
Should be a handy thing for its
under-pressure Labour MPs to put in their election literature. Mind
you, £100m may not go very far once you divvy it up between all the
various highways authorities in the country.
I watched the budget statement
on the BBC Democracy Live, which is where I also caught a bit of
the adjournement debate secured by Tunbridge Wells MP Greg Clark in
Westminster Hall on rail services in west Kent.
The room seemed deserted apart
from Mr Clark and the transport minister Chris Mole with scarcely
anyone else present.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
COUNTY Hall finances are under all sorts of pressure
but why is the fact that fewer people are getting married hitting
its coffers?
According to a report, not as
much money is being made from civil ceremonies "due to the
declining number of marriages." And the loss of income? A not
insignificant £275,000.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
THERE were some horribly grim
reminders of the bad old days of political sleaze watching the
Channel 4 "Dispatches" revelations last night.
Whatever else Steven
Byers might have done, his political legacy now looks to
be assured. He will forever be known as the Labour politician
caught on camera as the man who compared himself to a taxi for hire
- just as everyone remembers Neil Hamilton for staying in The Ritz
and holding up a biscuit before a media scrum and saying he was
going to declare it.
(Is it really 16 years since
Harrods boss Mohammed Al-Fayed said it was possible to "hire
an MP the way you hire a London taxi"?)
I can understand the fury of his
fellow Labour MPs, especially those nursing small majorities just
weeks away from polling day.
I spoke to one Labour backbencher in
Kent who said that the contest in his constituency would be tight –
but that was before the three former ministers were suspended from
the Labour party and the news that Samantha Cameron was
pregnant.
The one unknown is whether this will
rebound only on Labour or whether, as was the case in the aftermath
of the expenses’ scandal, voters will – as Ann
Widdecombe has said in relation to the expenses scandal –
it will be a case of "a pox on all your houses".
I’m not at all surprised that David
Cameron is demanding a full inquiry into what has gone on – the
longer he can keep the issue on the news agenda, the better and
with various other investigations by standards watchdogs already
starting, it looks like Labour will be starting the election
campaign overshadowed by the kind of allegations that proved so
damaging to the Conservatives in 1997.
Wednesday, March 24 2010
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