Just imagine being a councillor that is so very needy, that they feel comfortable popping on NSC and making a tit of themselves, with monotonous regularity. Quite incredible, really.
[Brighton] Two Brighton & Hove Labour Cllrs Expelled!
- Thread starter Chicken Run
- Start date
Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊
hart's shirt
Well-known member
"Don't talk about yourself; it will be done when you leave."
- Wilson Mizner
Easy 10
Brain dead MUG SHEEP
- Oct 20, 2022
- 6,947
Is the Argus story below incorrect?
Conservative candidate resigns after making 'Islamophobic' jokes
A COUNCIL candidate has stood down after posting a series of offensive jokes online.
www.theargus.co.uk
Sorry I don’t know you but I understood you stepped down because the history that came to light of you posting racist content on facebook was deemed by your Party to render you unsuitable to stand for election?
How can you say ’no one’ found any of your jokes offensive’? The whole point of defining certain language as racist or discriminatory language is because it is prima facia offensive- it doesn’t have to rely on someone making a complaint to be so.
Erm...are you actually trying to deny this story?
Hove Tory candidate quits over ‘Islamophobic’ jokes
A Conservative candidate standing in May's city council elections has resigned from the party after a series of offensive jokeswww.brightonandhovenews.org
It includes the following quote:
"Brighton and Hove Conservatives agree that many of the jokes are of an offensive nature"
Wow.
I am genuinely quite shocked. This man holds public office?
He should be thoroughly ashamed of his behaviour.
Not a one off either. Went to the effort of joining a Facebook group to deliberately post offensive material.
Pretty grim.
- Thread starter
- #186
FAO Mods, can you please ban the Cllr from this thread please, by him showing up and the attention he’s receiving has completely derailed a perfectly legitimate thread ironically about his opposition in local government!
Nobby
Well-known member
- Sep 29, 2007
- 2,892
Good to know. Maybe some of his constituents on here might like to start it off. Presumably you have to be a constituent
- Oct 20, 2022
- 6,947
I don’t think that’s going to raise the level of debate somehow - there isn’t much more to say at the moment about an ‘investigation‘ that we don’t know any details about - and this thread has provided another great opportunity for NSCers to highlight the particular credentials that the local Tory Party must think make Ivan Lyons such a fine example of what the public want to see in a Tory Councillor .
- Apr 19, 2018
- 2,134
I'd never vote Tory anyway, but this whole thing suggests to me they must have a severe shortage of decent candidates prepared to stand for them.
- Oct 20, 2022
- 6,947
See my post above
The LA Code of Conduct for Councillors is only applicable if the complaint is made in regard to activities that a Councillor carried out in the course of his or her business as a Councillor.
“They may dismiss a complaint if, for example, there is no breach of the Code, the councillor was not acting in an official capacity, or the matter is trivial and it is not in the public interest to investigate...”
A pre-Councillor posting racist jokes before he was elected does’t fall under the Code of Conduct for example (even though it was enough for him to resign from the campaign)
- Apr 19, 2018
- 2,134
This is true, but I believe (possibly wrongly) a complaint can still be made and have some bearing. I know of a councillor who was prevented from taking part in some activities due to something they'd done on nights off. which had been widely reported and complained about and which I think ended up with the police involved and that councillor getting a caution.
The public interest bit mentioned above, can I reckon be interpreted to be about protection of the public which gets around the issue if something didn't happen while working as a councillor
- Oct 20, 2022
- 6,947
Not via the Council Code of Conduct by a member of the public - that is only when they are acting in their capacity as a Councillor . However, if a Councillor has allegedly committed a crime and been the subject of a police complaint, then that is another matter and they could be charged separately under the Law.
“All councils are required by the Localism Act 2011 to adopt a code of conduct that sets out the rules governing their behaviour and registration declaration of interests for their councillors and co-opted members when acting in their official capacity.”
A Councillor however, could be in breach of the Code of Conduct if he/she had led the public to believe that they were acting as/using their position as a Councillor when the acts complained of occurred - even if they were not actually doing so officially - then the test requires a further assessment.
Assessment
Initial tests
The assessment of a complaint would normally be a two-step process, described by the Committee on Standards in Public Life as the ‘can/should’ stages – the first stage being ‘can we deal with this complaint?’ and the second being ‘should we deal with this complaint?’.The first step would be a jurisdictional test and would assess whether the complaint is:
- against one or more named councillors of the authority or of a parish or town council the authority is responsible for;
- the named councillor was in office at the time of the alleged conduct;
- the complaint relates to matters where the councillor was acting as a councillor or representative of the authority and it is not a private matter;
- the complaint, if proven, would be a breach of the Code under which the councillor was operating at the time of the alleged misconduct.
ePetition - Vote of no confidence for the current local councillors
Last edited:
- Apr 19, 2018
- 2,134
So I don't know under what mechanism, but the allegation and complaint as it was at the time regarded behaviour towards vulnerable people. No town clerk (or whoever) would reasonably take the risk the allegations under investigation were true and allow continued access to the vulnerable group as part of the individual's duties as a councillor unless they were found to be false allegations. So if not under code of conduct then under some other means - perhaps just refusing them under a public interest argument - they were prevented from taking part in some activities.
I'm guessing safeguarding trumps all.
- Oct 20, 2022
- 6,947
Yes, this would be absolutely the correct response by the Council - if there are known safe guarding issues (regardless of where those stem from) or where there is an ongoing investigation regarding behaviour toward vulnerable people, then contact in a professional capacity would also be stopped by law. Anyone working in contact with vulnerable people have to undergo risk assessments- (including police checks/DBS) - this applies to any voluntary/paid job/profession that requires unsupervised contact or being the primary contact person in work with vulnerable people.
EDIT - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/47/contents
The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (SVGA 2006) was introduced to help avoid harm, or the risk of harm, by preventing people who are deemed unsuitable to work with children and vulnerable adults from gaining access to them through their work.
Last edited:
This isn’t true.
- Oct 20, 2022
- 6,947
Sources - explain please …
Because the law says quite explicitly it is for acts carried out by the councillor in his official duties
The Law
27Duty to promote and maintain high standards of conduct
(1)A relevant authority must promote and maintain high standards of conduct by members and co-opted members of the authority.(2)In discharging its duty under subsection (1), a relevant authority must, in particular, adopt a code dealing with the conduct that is expected of members and co-opted members of the authority when they are acting in that capacity.
I have been involved in a case for 4 years with a Councillor, myself and other Councillors have been trying to remove from a District and Parish Council - he has had repeated cautions for his behaviour towards members of the public, for drunken bullish behaviour and police complaints of harassment- none of them came under the code of conduct because they were incidents in his private life.
His racist and sexist behaviour in Council meetings led to bans from meetings and removal from various committees under the CoC and it took a concerted effort by Councillors (including the very popular ex-mayor standing in his ward at the next election to get him voted out.)
Last edited:
The source is the Code of Conduct. You have cherry-picked a paragraph which deals with acting in the specific role. The previous page states this:
Building on these principles, the following general principles have been developed specifically for the role of Councillor.
In accordance with the public trust placed in me, on all occasions:
- I act with integrity and honesty
- I act lawfully
- I treat all persons fairly and with respect
- I lead by example and act in a way that secures public confidence in the role of Councillor
- Oct 20, 2022
- 6,947
I refer you to the Assessment Criteria the Council apply to decide whether they have jurisdiction to investigate a breach of the CoC in my previous post.
You are literally incorrect on this. I have a background in Local Government experience for many years both as a candidate in local elections for two different political parties and a background in law. I have also, since moving to Norfolk, been working with the Mayor and other Councillors to apply this CoC for years to a particular Councillor whose behaviour in his private life is unfitting for a public servant - we all know that but have not been able to do anything under the CoC - because ’On all occasions’ refers to when that the individual is acting in their role as a Councillor - ie when carrying out those public duties.
I posted the Assessment Criteria above and part of the first test is to establish whether the Councillor was acting in his official capacity… or, led the public to believe he was - if not, the Council can not proceed with a CoC complaint and they are quite strict on this.
The primary source is not the Code of Conduct that all Councils must adopt but the Localism Act 2011 which does NOT legislate over the private lives of citizens - I think you are conflating the role/work carried out by a Councillor with someone who is a Councillor per se - it is not cherry picking’ to say the Code of Conduct applies to only the normal course of duties of a councillor or where the public is led to believe he/she was acting in his capacity as a Councillor - it is the fundamental rationale of the Law.
It is not for example, the role of a Councillor to go shopping for his wife in the supermarket after his Council meetings, nor is it his role to go to watch Brighton play football (unless he is going in an official capacity ), nor is it the role of a Councillor to cut his back lawn on a Sunday morning - what ever he or she does on those occasions is subject to any laws that you or I live by.
So no, “occassions’ refers to all occassions where the Councilor is acting in his role as Councillor not on all occasions of his life in general.
Hope that makes sense.
(If you can provide an example however, where a Councillor has been sanctioned for a breach of the Code of Conduct when they were acting in a private life capacity, of course that will further your argument but I think you will be hard pushed to find one.)
Last edited:
- Oct 20, 2022
- 6,947
I suspect it might in part have something to do with the Council’s Proposal to close St Peter’s Community School in Portslade and the nursery - but rather than anything underhand, the little I knew Les back in my days as a locally active Party member, is he is a man of strong principle so perhaps stepping down at this time is actually a matter of both age, integrity and the sense of dedicated service he has to his ward residents.
Portslade school closure would leave Fishersgate kids in limbo, parents say
The closure of a Portslade school will leave children on the wrong side of town in limbo, parents say. About
www.brightonandhovenews.org