There are claims of a "boys' club" culture among elected councillors in Liverpool.
A meeting of the local authority’s standards and ethics committee heard claims Town Hall representatives “need to be reminded of their obligations around respect” amid complaints around social media conduct and behaviour during debates.
Daniel Fenwick, the council’s new monitoring officer, also admitted that when it comes to complaints against members, the existing code of conduct “has no teeth” regardless how serious the matter.
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Warbreck Labour Cllr Alan Gibbons said as a relatively new councillor it was “disappointing” to see “boys’ club” heckling of minority parties and called for work to be done about the way members behave.
He said: “We can’t stand on high moral ground if we’re heckling down minority (party) members and I think we do need to look at the culture of this chamber if we’re supposed to put forward exemplary behaviour.”
Cllr Gibbons also described a remark from Wednesday’s meeting of the full council as “gross sexism” when Liberal Democrat member Cllr Richard Clein said former planning committee chair Tricia O’Brien was 'past her sell by date.'
Cllr Clein was criticised for his language and asked to apologise.
Referring to Cllr Gibbons’ remarks, independent chair Peter Farrelly said an example on conduct needs to be set by senior councillors from whom more junior members would take their cue from.
Committee officer Chris Walsh said with meetings being live streamed, they were now broadcast to a wider audience.
He said: “Heckling doesn’t look good for the council. Calling it out as it happens helps behaviour.”
The committee was told the council had received five complaints regarding social media conduct by members.
Mr Walsh said some instances fall under the authority’s code of conduct, but not on private accounts.
Monitoring officer Mr Fenwick said when a complaint is made against a councillor, an informal way of resolving the matter would initially be sought out but in reality the existing code “has no teeth, there is no obvious sanction should a member be found guilty of a breach of the code of conduct that the council can impose however that egregious that breach is.”
Mr Walsh said councillors’ behaviour had “implications” for Liverpool Council and while its social media protocol had been agreed in 2019, it had not been refreshed since.
Interactions between members on social media - mostly Twitter the committee was told - “don’t look great” Mr Walsh said but the council’s new code of conduct “pushes the threshold around respect so culture and behaviour gets better.”
Chair Mr Farrelly said: “It seems to be the case members need to be reminded of their obligations around respect.”
He added that councillors need to “treat the public politely and respectfully” but there was a “lack of respect” around how members were engaging on social media and over email.
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