Joe Anderson, Derek Hatton arrested among others....

[Anubis]

And on it goes.

 

 

[Rico1304]

This Labour lot seem pretty corrupt. 

[Section_31]

Was in town the other day and the place just seems to be one endless, giant building site.

 

 

[Anubis]

Good to see transparent local government in action…

 

 

 

[stringvest]

7 minutes ago, Anubis said:

Good to see transparent local government in action…

 

 

 

He used to wear Trespass and shop at the Aldi
Now he’s the joker in the clubhouse at Caldy
His hair was receding, his face had descended
Now he’s been up to Rodney Street and had it all mended
He used to walk home with a chop suey roll
Now he’s in Sheldrakes devouring his soul
His mate’s got a six-berth in Kinmel Bay
And for the last week in August that’s where he’d stay
But now it’s a fortnight in tropical climes
Raising of lager and here’s to the times
But a worried demeanour as I went through his turnstile
Was clarified later when I heard the announcement

John McNamara
John McNamara
John McNamara
To the cash office please

[Section_31]

I see the council has voted to ditch the position of Mayor too.

[Kepler-186]

From The Post.

 

A stormy night at Town Hall

By Jack Walton

Let it be said: when veteran councillor and Liberal Democrat leader Richard Kemp starts making Kama Sutra jokes at Town Hall, you know you’re in for a long one. 

That’s what we got on Wednesday night. During a full council meeting at which the Labour Group voted to scrap the mayoral post and replace it with a leader and cabinet model from next year, jibes were flying around like Müller Corner-missiles at a school hall food fight. After Liberal leader Steve Radford called for a binary referendum to settle the issue, Kemp told him that he had “taken up as many different positions” as can be found in the famous manual. It was a touch of levity amidst otherwise hostile proceedings.

A public consultation regarding the matter — held at the expense of a previously-promised legally binding referendum — had received such a paltry response from the public that several Labour councillors were able to argue it couldn’t really be seen as a representative poll. As such they merrily pushed on through with their own preferred option. Cynics might suggest that was the point.

Only 4% of Liverpool’s residents took part in that consultation, with 41% of those who did wishing to keep the mayoral system. Roughly 33% opted for the kind of committee system that has recently been chosen by the people of Sheffield, while a meagre 24% opted for the leader and cabinet model. Had an extra-terrestrial wandered into the meeting then they might have been surprised to find out that the least popular choice had effectively won before a word was uttered and that the whole exercise was little more than a formality. Those closer to the ground would likely see it as par for the course.

“I won’t have that the consultation was a joke,” insisted Mayor Joanne Anderson defiantly. Kemp — by this point in his comedy groove — wasn’t listening. He compared the letter it was sent out on to a “final demand” and emphasised how much money had been wasted on the process, only for it to be ignored. Not surprisingly, this was a point opposition councillors repeatedly hammered home. Why bother doing a consultation in the first place? Radford said they were “taking the mickey” out of the public. Green leader Tom Crone had done the maths. The process cost £11 per respondent. 

When Anna Rothery — leader of the newly formed Liverpool Community Independents (LCIs) — tried to jump aboard the anti-consultation brigade though, Anderson was quicker at the draw, reminding Rothery that she was a Labour Group member when it was agreed. Although the back-and-forths kept on coming, there was actually agreement between the LCIs, Greens and Lib Dems, who all preferred the committee-based system. 

Speaking to The Post, Childwall Lib Dem councillor Pat Maloney expressed his dislike of both the outgoing and incoming systems. “Joe Anderson acted like a dictator because the mayoral position allowed him to do that. It makes scrutiny, calling to account nearly impossible,” he told me. “My concern about going back to the leader and cabinet system though is you’ve got power delegated to the cabinet.” 

Another man with concerns is Frank McKenna, the chief executive of private lobbying group Downtown in Business, which represents 500 local businesses. McKenna’s fear is that the time period between now and the implementation of a new system will have serious economic ramifications, given the urgent need to build relationships between the city’s political and economic leaders. “There’s no engagement now between the council, the mayor’s office and the private sector in the city. I’m not just talking about us. There have been no new developers,” he says. “So are we going to leave that for 10 months?”

There was also a lengthy side-show in which councillors debated when they were or weren’t allowed to challenge a point made by another councillor about themselves. It was all a touch postmodern: arguments not on the substance of the meeting but instead on the T&Cs of arguing itself. They stopped short of dusting off the rulebook, much to my relief with almost two hours on the clock. 

Labour’s Harry Doyle — the cabinet member for culture and visitor economy and a close ally of the mayor’s — gave the punchiest display of the evening, singling out his opponents one-by-one, reserving special criticism for the LCIs and their attendance record at council. “Weak and lazy,” he cried out to a cocktail of cheers and jeers, as though he’d dropped a killer bar at a clandestine rap battle. Doyle’s argument was simple enough: the committee-based system could never function because that would entail considering the views of sub-par councillors on the opposition benches. 

Alan Gibbons of the LCIs — not a man to take allegations of laziness (or sub-parness) lying down — came back at Doyle and Labour, and caught them in their weak spot. “Anyone trying to lecture us who has just let £16 million go down the drain is frankly a joke,” Gibbons said, referring to the recent energy bill fiasco in which said amount was lost thanks to the failure to renew a contract. 

One man who wasn’t present to add to the skirmish? Tony Reeves, who stepped down as chief executive of the council this week following the scandal. More on him when you wake up tomorrow morning.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Did Anderson get away with it.. or case dropped should we say.

[Kepler-186]

The Tories rightly get a lot of shit, and a Con council in Thurrock is up to its neck in corruption over failed investments in solar power farms,  but it’s pretty unforgivable what local Liverpool and Merseyside Labour are into/up to/guilty of now and in

the past. 
 

What a shit state of affairs all round really. 

 

 

 

[sir roger]

A quick look at Private Eye would suggest that council departments are hives of corruption and nepotism the country over, but strangely enough only Liverpool appears to have been taken over in a government coup with fatcat commissioners so far bringing nothing to the table other than eye-wateringly hourly rates.

 

I hold no torch for Anderson or any of his cohorts ( I don't like him ), but despite being assumed guilty and lambasted by more or less everybody, the police investigation seems to be very slow, surprisingly so when the prevalent attitude expounded is that they were 'gangsters' and 'racketeers'. Indeed the main piece of tittle-tattle seens to be some pathetic scheme where £5 or so LFC car parking matchday payments may have been pocketed.

 

The police arrests were certainly convenient for the government intheir subsequent moves.

[Kepler-186]

9 minutes ago, sir roger said:

A quick look at Private Eye would suggest that council departments are hives of corruption and nepotism the country over, but strangely enough only Liverpool appears to have been taken over in a government coup with fatcat commissioners so far bringing nothing to the table other than eye-wateringly hourly rates.

 

I hold no torch for Anderson or any of his cohorts ( I don't like him ), but despite being assumed guilty and lambasted by more or less everybody, the police investigation seems to be very slow, surprisingly so when the prevalent attitude expounded is that they were 'gangsters' and 'racketeers'. Indeed the main piece of tittle-tattle seens to be some pathetic scheme where £5 or so LFC car parking matchday payments may have been pocketed.

 

The police arrests were certainly convenient for the government intheir subsequent moves.

Robert Jenrick springs to mind. 
 

I guess it hits harder here as they’ve tried to portray themselves as men of the people standing up for what’s right and found with their fingers in the till. 
 

Still, as you say it’s not unique to here, but the political capital to be gained out of it is. 

[torahboy]

6 minutes ago, sir roger said:

A quick look at Private Eye would suggest that council departments are hives of corruption and nepotism the country over, but strangely enough only Liverpool appears to have been taken over in a government coup with fatcat commissioners so far bringing nothing to the table other than eye-wateringly hourly rates.

 

I hold no torch for Anderson or any of his cohorts ( I don't like him ), but despite being assumed guilty and lambasted by more or less everybody, the police investigation seems to be very slow, surprisingly so when the prevalent attitude expounded is that they were 'gangsters' and 'racketeers'. Indeed the main piece of tittle-tattle seens to be some pathetic scheme where £5 or so LFC car parking matchday payments may have been pocketed.

 

The police arrests were certainly convenient for the government intheir subsequent moves.

It does seem that the investigations into the alleged corruption by Anderson and others is not producing the sensations that people expected. This ex-policeman who's asking for more time to oversee the city's affairs, at a salary of £1200 a day, may be worthy of scrutiny himself.

[sir roger]

2 minutes ago, Kepler-186 said:

Robert Jenrick springs to mind. 
 

I guess it hits harder here as they’ve tried to portray themselves as men of the people standing up for what’s right and found with their fingers in the till. 
 

Still, as you say it’s not unique to here, but the political capital to be gained out of it is. 

Fair comments, but would point out at this stage they haven't been proven to have any fingers in the till, and Anderson has already seen similar allegations, by Lancashire police, quietly dropped about 5 years back. His initial arrest by Merseyside police was nearly 2 years ago so hopefully things will become clearer soon.

[Kepler-186]

24 minutes ago, sir roger said:

Fair comments, but would point out at this stage they haven't been proven to have any fingers in the till, and Anderson has already seen similar allegations, by Lancashire police, quietly dropped about 5 years back. His initial arrest by Merseyside police was nearly 2 years ago so hopefully things will become clearer soon.

Yes, poorly worded on my part. 

 

You should check out The Post if you haven’t already It’s doing a lot of longer form investigative journalism about Liverpool and Merseyside. 

 

 

 

[Kepler-186]

Standard 

 

 

[Anubis]

 

 

[Kepler-186]

 

 

http://www.gmhousingaction.com/commissioners-charter-cities-liverpool/

[Kepler-186]

Another great article from Abi O’Connor, a PhD student at Liverpool Uni. Have posted some of her stuff on this thread previously. 
 

 

 

[Skidfingers McGonical]

What's frustrating about that is, we have all known for years that is what the council have been up to.

[Captain Howdy]

[stringvest]

It's a crying shame, but it is the fault of the people of the city, who continue to support these thick as shit and corrupt politicians.  I'd see them all dragged through the streets.  Is there no-one in local politics with even half a brain and imagination on nodding terms with integrity in the city?  No wonder it's a target for derision.  

[Strontium]

Nothing changes, eh. In the 80s Derek Hatton, Tony Mulhearn and Tony Byrne would hold secret meetings in the Gateacre Park Hotel where they would award hugely lucrative contracts to a handful of preferred developers (Wimpey was one) without any of the normal oversights. In the 90s, knowing the level of council money mismanagement, developers would wait until the end of the financial year for the inevitable budget-balancing fire sale of city assets.

This is a feature of one-party states the world over.

[Arniepie]

I didn't realise Anderson had been cleared.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

The coup is complete.

 

 

 

[stringvest]

fully deserved.