Sefton Council Meeting Met with Controversy Over 'Self-congratulatory' Motion

Despite a passionate plea by Norwood Councillor, Dave Neary, in his maiden speech for a culture of kindness and mutual understanding, Sefton's council meeting this week declined into a spectacle of misunderstanding and confusion as councillors were asked to vote for a motion which the Sefton Director of Legal Services said couldn't be carried out.

Shortly after Clir Neary's excellent speech was deservedly applauded problems began.

Trouble escalated with a motion moved by the Council leader, Clir Marion Atkinson, commending Sefton Social Workers but also, more contentiously, going much further and congratulating Sefton Council itself on "demonstrable progress having been made across several Council service areas" and "significant improvement across services for the residents of Sefton ".

To complicate matters the motion was then rendered null and void because it insisted that the Council should write to the local government minister, Jim McMahon MP. Unfortunately Jim McMahon had been axed by Kier Starmer after the Angela Rayner scandal and was not a minister.

In previous years it would have been possible for the mover of a motion to make a simple alteration during the debate, but ironically the ruling Sefton Labour Party themselves had only recently changed the Council constitution and banned any amendments that hadn't been tabled days in advance. Opposition councillors at the time dubbed this change a restriction on democratic debate, but on this occasion it was the ruling party that had the problem.They could not rectify the mistake in their motion.

They thus duly voted that the Council should write to the wrong man- an action which the Legal Services Director, Chris Moister told them "could not be performed".

 According to Lib Dem opposition leader, Clir.John Pugh, there is often a nonsensical Alice in Wonderland character to Sefton Council proceedings that defies understanding.

"The real shame," he says," is that there is a strong desire from all parties to see that those behind the improvements in Sefton's Children's Services are recognised and congratulated - particularly Dr Risthardh Hare, the Director and his team .

This was underlined across the Council Chamber by all parties in speeches by Lib Dem, Conservative and Labour councillors.  

What we, and I suspect most residents struggle, with is identifying all the other "significant improvements across services" across Sefton. 

This has the feel of self-congratulatory complacency to anyone staring at a pothole or stuck waiting on a council helpline. There was really no need to dilute deserved praise for the commendable improvements delivered by our Children Services staff with confused self-congratulatory, self-serving nonsense from politicians."

Residents can soon make up their own mind on how far Sefton Council meetings resembles Alice in Wonderland as it is scheduled to be life-streamed- though for reasons not entirely clear that keeps being postponed.