Panto season begins at Wigan Council with corruption and unlawful actions.

 

So we are getting ready for panto season shortly and they’re in full swing in Wigan. This year's production is named, ”His he or his he not a Cllr?” O yes he is - o no he's not. 

For those that do not know, in 2019 Cllr Steve Jones said he was going to resign in the future. He even put a future date to make it clear. The then Chief Executive Donna Hall said she could decide if he had resigned and she decided he had. Fast forward a few months a not one but 2 high court judges agreed with Cllr Steve Jones he hadn’t resigned. So after that she had to go.

So after that, you would think that the council would make sure this doesn’t happen again, and fast forward to June 2021 and Steve thought he had just been elected with a huge majority and he was running a couple of local charities. After a decision to step back from the charities he thought was he should step back from a Cllr and run a by-election and let the people decide as he didn’t want them to think he was pulling the wool over their eyes. A politician with morals.

The rules are very clear and discussed at the previous high court hearing and all parties agree once a Cllr resigns that is it. No one can change their mind, no one can refuse to accept it. It is done! A by-election was called and the people vote for the next Cllr and job done. Not hard.

So when Steve Jones resigned in June that was it. From that very moment he sent the email he was a member of the public. But the Chief Executive with the legal officer in the council and the deputy leader and leader all agreed to let him change his mind and the chief executive spoke and emailed him and said think about it over the weekend and let me know next week. Wrong – illegal action. But at that point, it wasn’t too late to say sorry Steve we have to call a by-election. Then Steve said well if you are ok with it then fine with it then ok. And so the chief executive and all the exec at the council said yes you can be a Cllr again. There you go, the very moment that the unlawful and illegal action was carried out. What they had just done was put a member of the public in as a Cllr, an elected member. A position only the people can put in not them. It’s called democracy. They then carried on as normal and paid him! Yes, they paid a member of the public illegally.

So they thought they got away with it until Michael Moulding sent a letter saying that he had found out about the illegal action and he was going to take them to the high court. The council went to a barrister to and their legal opinion they had broken the rules and they had to sack Steve Jones again otherwise they would lose in the high court.

So now we know the facts and these are not even disputed as the council even said this all of this in a press release and they were just being nice to Steve letting him back as a Cllr. Being nice does not overrule democracy.

His blog helps to explain in simple language the corruption that has gone on and shows how the chief executive and Wigan Council have been paying a member of the public illegally but more importantly letting a member of the public go and sit with elected members and vote on decisions that effects residents of Wigan. The question is how many other members of the public are sitting in Cllrs seats?

Greater Manchester Police, Council and Local Cllrs let local schoolgirl and her family down.

 

Many Standish residents will have seen the story that a Standish High School girl was tried to be grabbed by male residents that are from abroad and living in the Britannia Hotel at Almond Brook. They also carried out intimidating and unappropriated behaviour towards her. But the attempting grabbing is of more serious concern.

What is equally shocking is the police (GMP) have done little to protect this female, investigate the crime and also support the local community. Now Greater Manchester police have put out a press release, I have seen this via a local Cllrs website site, that basically calls this now scared schoolgirl a liar. What a disgrace!

We know that there was at least one witness as a local man that helped the girl and walked her home for her own safety. Have the police been to him and got a statement from him? Have they even taken a statement off this scared and frightened girl? I bet not!

Now in their statement, they say that the matter is closed and in another earlier social media post, they said no arrests were made and the men concerned have been spoken to. Are they serious? Really is that it? Many that follow the blog will remember that when I served the ex-Chief Executive of Wigan Council with High Court summons she rang the police and got 7 officers to come for me in the middle of night lift me from my house and drag me to Bury police station. They claimed harassment for serving high court summons. That is right I just served a high court summons on the chief exec of Wigan Council. I took GMP to the high court and won. So why is it ok for one of their mates to call in a favour for being served high courts summons and lock an innocent gentleman up for 23.5 hours, assault him and in the end an ambulance had to be called for me but it is not an arrestable offence for someone to try and grab a schoolgirl? Intimidate her, scare her? This shows the police have failed this girl and her family and the local community.

The local MP Lisa Nandy has been reported in a regional newspaper saying that she does not believe that the hotel should be used for asylum seekers ( I am agreeing at this point) but then says the reason is that the hotel is not suitable for the asylum seekers ( now she has lost me and I cannot agree with this, for the reason the hotel is not suitable for them)  she seems to have no concerns for the local community she is meant to represent. I for one now – who has a daughter that goes to school – have put steps in place to put extra protection in place for her, inc me walking to pick her up from school. I know other parents are doing the same as there are worried about their own children’s safety with the predators in the community.

I can hear the racist cries from the establishment lot. This is not an immigration issue this is about the safety of our children. If it was white males that were doing this kind of behaviour the local community would be calling it out the same, and quite rightly too, but the same question-does keep appearing on social media sites and that is, “if this was white males doing this would they be arrested or just spoken to like the lot in the hotel?” I for one doubt it. So why one rule for one and another rule for others? Where is equality?

The mum of the girl concerned is not taking this lightly and nor should she. She, her daughter and her family must have the support of the local community and we should call out and hold those responsible to account for not supporting her, the police, the council, local Cllrs etc.

Even if there was no crime, which I do not believe as there are witnesses to it, the police should never call or suggest she is a liar. She has enormous courage to report something like this. What message does that send out if it happens to anyone else? Would they be as brave as this girl and her family or would they be worried the police and establishment would call them a liar? Shame on Greater Manchester Police, Local Council and Local Cllrs and I say let's all get behind the family as the community is doing and highlight this issue and support the schoolgirl
, her family and also try and stop this happening again.