Opposition Bristol city councillors have accused the ruling Labour group of deliberately trying to hobble the forthcoming committee system by slashing money needed to run it. But cabinet members refuted the claims that they are taking a “scorched earth approach”, insisting no details about the new set-up, such as costs, structure or how it would actually work, had yet been provided and that sufficient funds would be given.
The row broke out at a council meeting over proposals to cut £500,000 from the mayor’s office, which will become defunct when Marvin Rees’s second term ends in May 2024 following the referendum result earlier this year to scrap the role of elected mayor. It will be replaced by decision-making committees made up of cross-party councillors with power shared among groups reflecting the authority’s political balance.
Opposition members criticised the Labour administration at a budget scrutiny meeting on Wednesday, November 23, for cutting the mayor’s office costs completely from 2024/25 but failing to include any money to support the new system. Labour deputy mayor for finance Cllr Craig Cheney said: “This is just about clearing the current system out and a new one needing to be designed and the cost of that needing to be factored into future budgets.”
Read more: Bristol formally scraps elected mayor as councillors rubber-stamp referendum result
But Green Cllr Martin Fodor said: “Saying you’re clearing out the costs could be reframed as saying there’s a scorched earth approach being taken to clear it all out and not leave something there.” He said the budget papers did not show funding for the committee system when it takes over from 2024/25.
“We haven’t even been asked what’s needed for that year, we’ve only been told ‘Oh, that’s to be decided somewhere else’,” Cllr Fodor said. “So the proposals from this administration are basically cutting away support for whatever administration will come in, and that is disturbing.”
Cllr Cheney said: “That is not a fair reflection of what’s happening. It’s certainly not a political clear-out of the support for a committee system because of course some of us will be members of the committee system too, so it’s not in our interests to do that to ourselves or you or anyone else.
“This is about re-baselining budgets, so we need to be able to say the mayor’s office used to cost this, the committee system will cost this, next year there will be a pressure in the budget which will be the cost of the committee system. We’ve no idea what that will be at all, we’ve got no structures designed, we don’t know what the remuneration of committee members will be, we have no sight at all of what that cost will be.”
Green Cllr David Wilcox said the referendum showed residents wanted the council to be more democratic and transparent and that proposed cuts of nearly £1million to legal and democratic services would harm the council’s ability to webcast more meetings and other ways of being accountable. Labour deputy mayor for children’s services, education and equalities Cllr Asher Craig replied: “Year after year you were telling us that we needed to trim our own fat in terms of mayor and democratic services – we’re in November and you still have no idea about the committee system.
“So we can’t put a finger in the air and say this is how much it’s going to cost – you're going to tell us how much it’s going to cost because we don't know what system you’re going to put in place, and so all we can do is cut what’s not going to be in existence from 2024/25. When are we going to know what kind of committee system and what price is going to be paid for that?
“There is no mischief making, there’s no politicising, this has been tough for us and for staff that we’ve had to have the conversations with about the potential for what’s happening. So until you make the decision, we don’t know.”
Read next:
Marvin Rees's Bristol City Council cabinet branded 'toxic' in row over councillor no-shows
Thousands of Bristol's poorest families could be forced to pay council tax for first time in years
Bristol City Council Labour group vows to make committee system work
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