CONTRIBUTIONS from ‘backbench’ councillors were in short supply at last Thursday’s marathon council meeting. No doubt the hugely extended adjournments – one called for 15 minutes stretched to well over an hour – gave such members plenty of time to vent their views to their party chiefs behind closed doors.
Yet one among their ranks did make a notable intervention. Dukes ward Tory Cllr Sir Ron Watson combined wit with real teeth: His opening line set the tone: “For the first time in quite a number of years we have had a debate – at least that’s something.”
Sir Ron has a record of rhetorically piercing the flaws of the political set-up that existed prior in Sefton to Thursday. His argument goes that while cross-party co-operation has its place, this can be at the expense of offering voters democratic choice. The cross-party budgets of the last two years are a case in point, he told me on election night, and a greater emphasis on giving local taxpayers “value for money” is needed.
Despite those urges, on Thursday Sir Ron questioned whether Cllr Dowd’s amendment would help lead Sefton towards “vibrant democracy”. Its merits should be decided on as individual councillors rather than under the party whip, he said.
When it came to the votes, Sir Ron abstained. So did his party and ward colleagues Cllr Les Byrom – Cllr Parry’s predecessor as group leader – and Cllr David Pearson – who remains suspended from the Tory group until May 14, despite his resounding re-election success. Party unity has been a sticking point for Sefton Tories over the last civic year – will this continue into the next?
Sir Ron, of course, is himself a former leader of the borough’s Conservatives and of the council itself. Lib Dem deputy leader Cllr Iain Brodie-Browne suggested he hankered after the days of Thatcher v Kinnock. And history certainly loomed large over Thursday’s proceedings. Cllr Lord Ronnie Fearn was applauded by his Lib Dem colleagues after he spoke upon resigning his cabinet role. It was a “shame” and he had “always believed in Sefton”, said the twice MP for Southport. Sir Ron responded that he had great respect for Lord Fearn but his speech “illustrated one of the problems”. “This was the man elected on the basis of Southport out of Sefton,” he said.
The wealth of experience in Sefton’s council chamber is massive. Lord Fearn and Sir Ron began their local government careers under Southport Borough Council. A non-exhaustive list of those first elected pre-1973 also includes Cllrs Tom Glover, Brian Rimmer and Eric Storey. Another large wedge of councillors first saw service in the 1980s. Compare that with Westminster, where MPs of pre-97 vintage are a seriously shrunken minority.
For those wanting a further blast of nostalgia, click here for a House of Commons debate from January 1986 on local government finance. Sir Ron was then Sefton’s leader, although his party lost its overall majority in the following set of elections. Describing Sefton under Sir Ron as a “paragon of underspending virtue” – but alleging it had also “cut services to the bone” - was Allan Roberts, the late Labour MP for Bootle who Sir Ron fought at general elections.
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