Bootle Boot boys tear up Council Constitution

Photo: Sefton Council’s Ian Maher

It looks like the Bootle Labour Party are insisting on going ahead with their Cabinet Meeting this morning (Thursday) despite the fact that only two out of the nine councillors who will turn up tor the meeting in Bootle Town Hall at 10.00 am have actually been appointed to the Cabinet in accordance with the Council’s constitution.

Lib Dem councillor Tony Dawson has consulted a Public Law specialist at Manchester University and a qualified barrister at a leading Liverpool Law firm about this fiasco. He says:

Nobody can believe what is going on here. The Labour councillors have provided no justification whatsoever for flouting the Constitution. If they proceed with the Cabinet Meeting as planned then they are saying: “The Constitution says what we say it says” This is pure unadulterated Stalinism. They have pretty much torn up the Council’s constitution.”

“Last time (2007) the Labour Councillors behaved like this, there had to be special meeting of the Council to undo previous unlawful decision and it cost the Council hundreds of thousands of pounds. That time, they were in cahoots with the Conservatives trying to get rid of the Chief Executive who had sinned by trying to save the Council money. This time, they are completely on their own.”

“The Council’s constitution says that there shall only be between two and seven members in the ruling Cabinet. and that any proposed changes in the Cabinet format should be subject to a proper process of public consultation. New Labour Leader, Bootle Councillor Ian Maher has declared that he wants to increase the number of councillors paid the top Special Responsibility Allowances from seven to nine – and has proceeded as if there is nothing to stop him.”