Questions have been asked over whether cabinet members and their deputies should have been allowed to vote at a meeting called to change the way Cheshire East is run.
A special meeting of the council was called earlier this month by the Independents who want to see the cabinet system of governance replaced by a committee system.
The move to change was defeated, with 39 Conservatives voting against, 25 opposition (Ind, Lab and Lib Dem) voting for the change and the mayor not voting.
At the meeting, Cllr James Nicholas (Ind, Bollington) said: “I would like it minuted that I feel it is inappropriate for current members and deputy members of the cabinet to take part in this debate.”
The council’s acting monitoring officer, Dan Dickinson, told the meeting: “In code of conduct terms no interest arises in respect of cabinet members taking part in this debate.
“It’s conceivable that any member of this council could be called upon to become a cabinet member in any quadrennial from this point forward, so you’re all in the same boat in terms of any interest that might arise in respect of a cabinet member so therefore my view and advice is that no such interest arises.”
At present Cheshire East operates a cabinet system, whereby eight councillors from the ruling political group [the Conservatives] hold the majority of the power.
Those cabinet members are selected by the council leader and are paid an extra £13,500 each a year to reflect their special responsibilities on top of the basic allowance of £11,871 all 82 councillors receive.
Some cabinet members have been in post for several years so, after the meeting, CheshireLive emailed the council for clarification on whether cabinet members should have been able to vote.
CheshireLive said: “The mayor-elect has to leave the room and cannot vote when the council is voting for a new mayor, and members of ASDVs [the council’s wholly-owned companies such as Ansa] have to leave not only full council meetings but even cabinet meetings when matters relating to the companies they are directors of are discussed.
“Why were cabinet members able to vote at the special council meeting when they were voting for something from which they benefit financially?”
The council referred us back to the response that acting monitoring officer Dan Dickinson had given during the meeting.
Meanwhile, council leader Rachel Bailey (Con, Audlem) has refused to say whether or not the Conservatives were whipped for the vote - despite all other parties declaring they had a free vote at the meeting.
The whip is used by political parties of all colours (with the exception of Independents) at national and local level to ensure MPs or councillors vote along party lines.
When asked at the meeting if the Conservatives had been whipped, Cllr Bailey had said what is discussed in a [political] group meeting is private.
She repeated that to the CheshireLive afterwards when asked if the Conservatives had been whipped and added: “If a group decides to vote together that doesn’t then say they’ve been told to. You can’t tell anyone to do something against their wishes.”
