Resignations Over Abolition Of Naked Councillors

By Rob Last edited 225 months ago
Resignations Over Abolition Of Naked Councillors
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The London Assembly is two members short as of today thanks to the interim report published by The Commission on London Governance this week.

The report, titled Capital Life, is meant to provide a review of London governance and is (according to the website) "supported by all the major political parties in London".

Well that might be a bit of an exageration, because today the Conservative deputy chairman of the London Assembly, and the Veritas leader quit the Commission saying some of the policies in the report were "not thought through and will undermine local democratic accountability".

Ok, so a Tory and a bigot might not be the greatest loss the Commission has ever seen, but it's interesting to look at exactly why they've quit.

Deputy Chair Brian Coleman for instance didn't like the idea of relocalising business rates (that is, giving the money to local councils to give them an incentive to raise revenue instead of handing over the dosh to central government) or strengthening the role of backbench councillors by turning them into what the report calls "local champions" (that's councillors with powers, as opposed to councillors with no powers, which the report calls "naked councillors"...and no one wants them).

If you want to read a quick little summary of what the report entails there's one over at ePolitix.com.

Last Updated 15 June 2005