Greens Accuse Labour Of Stifling Opposition Questions

Green councillors have criticised Labour for asking “self-congratulatory questions” during one of the brief sessions open to opposition councillors to hold the cabinet and council to account.

Thirty minutes are allocated for questions to the Labour administration at meetings of the full council.

Green councillor Kerry Pickett has raised what she believes to be an abuse of the constitution with Brighton and Hove City Council’s chief executive Jess Gibbons and monitoring officer Elizabeth Culbert.

Councillor Pickett asked how the order of oral questions was decided because, she said, some councillors were rarely given a chance to have their voices heard.

In response, she was told that the leader of the opposition was given first priority, followed by the leaders of other opposition political groups and then other groups in diminishing order.

Councillors have a minute to ask their question and a cabinet member has no more than three minutes to reply.

At the last meeting of the full council, on Thursday 10 July, 18 questions were submitted but only 10 were answered at the meeting including two from Labour councillors who are not cabinet members.

The Green leader of the opposition Steve Davis did not have a question so the first one was asked by Conservative leader Alistair McNair, followed by Brighton and Hove Independent leader Bridget Fishleigh.

Councillor Pickett said:

“For residents watching full council, it must seem that this is a real moment for opposition councillors to hold the Labour administration to account, scrutinising policy and asking critical questions.

“However, the reality is that, technically, the party with most members gets to ask the most questions.

“The administration is undemocratically using this time for Labour councillors to ask self-congratulatory questions when the time should be used for oppositional scrutiny.

“Opposition parties should be asking questions and it is not the moment for the administration to be patting themselves on the back.

“Councillor (Bella) Sankey already gets a full 10 minutes to do that at the start of the meeting.

“Additionally, opposition councillors were not afforded the same rights to time that some Labour councillors were given.

“Some questions exceeded the one-minute timeframe and responses also ran on in unprecedented length.

“Cynically, it might be suggested that this could be a form of filibustering to stop the opposition asking difficult questions.

“The administration needs to stop wasting time and show some respect for opposition councillors who are only carrying out their political duty.”

Labour said:

“It’s disappointing though not surprising to see the Greens objecting to Labour councillors doing their job in standing up for their residents and representing them at full council.

“Every councillor has a democratic right and a responsibility to raise issues on behalf of their community. The council’s constitution protects that right for a reason.

“Questions at full council are a key part of open, transparent local democracy.

“This isn’t about party politics. It’s about getting results for local people. Labour is here to represent residents and deliver for the city.”