I have learnt that the LABOUR Cllrs below did not register free gifts/ hospitality. Earlier this year all Cllrs where asked if they wanted two free tickets for the Wigan Jazz Festival, via their Cllrs email account. This is not uncommon. As I am a keen jazz fan I took up the offer, like the Labour Cllrs. However, when I registered my interest with the Council, I noticed that the Labour Cllrs below that also took up this offer did not register the gift/ hospitality.
I reported them to the Council for failing to register their interest and therefore broke the Council's Code of Conduct. The Council have come back with some crazy excuse saying that it is a personal gift and not made to a Cllr. I strongly disagree as this offer was made to Cllrs email address's and they responded via their Cllrs email and therefore they were under the Cllrs rules. The Council claim that Cllrs only have to register gifts that a rise from Council meeting.
Have you heard anything so mad? So if a Cllr was going to get a back handed under the rules that the Council are saying, as long as it is not done in a meeting then they don't have to register the gift/ hospitality - which surely can't be right. The whole purpose of a register of gifts/ hospitality is to be open and transparent.
They now say that they intend to change the rules so Cllrs have to register gifts any time now. They say they are doing this because I have raised this. The rules have already there - it is called the law!
One of the real main worries is if these Cllrs haven't registered 2 tickets of £32 in total, then what other higher value gifts have they not registered as they believe they have received them as "personal gifts"?
I believe that this is also a criminal offence and will consider whether to report it now to the police.
I wonder if it is because they are Labour Cllrs and that's why the Council are not investigating?
The LABOUR Cllrs who failed to register their gifts are:-
Bill Clarke
Keith Stitt
Janice Sharratt
Eunice Smethurst
Pam Stewart
Clive Morgan
I think if a breach of the law has taken place then it warrants investigation by the police, as you said gareth, what other 'gifts' have they failed to register ?
ReplyDeleteregards mick dorset
Thank you Gareth for bringing this to our attention.
ReplyDeleteWigan Council is a disgrace and the last bastion of Stalinism in Western Europe.
Sadly the Wigan Labour Mafia gravy train has been chugging along for decades.
Free tickets to football and rugby matches, free trips overseas, slap up silver service dinners, chinese banquets, safe councillor seats for their wives and children and Council subsidised premises for Labour MP’s.
As for the Wigan Council legal and chief executives departments it seems to me that most of them are not properly qualified and don’t even comprehend their own Wigan Council constitution.
They waste their time rumour mongering, complaining to the police and gossiping to the press instead of conducting the business of the Council.
With a few exceptions I wouldn’t trust them to run a party in a brewery.
It’s about time they sacked the unqualified and /or incompetent Labour yes men and women and put Peter Hassett in charge.
Wigan MBC has to be without a doubt one of the worst run LAs I have had the misfortune to live under (and I've lived under a few.) Complaints go unanswered, council officers lie, documents go 'missing', data requests are sat on. The list goes on. I've always voted Labour but at the last Local Election I voted UKIP, not because I like them, but to send a message to all those corrupt, untrustworthy, on-the-make Labour councillors that they can't take my voted for granted anymore.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't we have more honest councillors like Gareth Fairhurst. Honest politicians are very hard to find these days. Well done Gareth.
ReplyDelete