Labour's Reluctance to Govern

Back in May, at the local elections, the Labour group were quick to celebrate their success at taking overall control of Sefton Council.

I have posted on the, often bizarre, tactics used by Labour to maintain control by using all the powers at their disposal.

The most recent example of their ruthlessness and lack of respect was the sacking of Maureen Fearn after 41 years service as a governor at Meols Cop High School.

The reason given by their Cabinet Member responsible was that "consideration was be given to the overall proportional composition of the political groups on the Council when LA representative governors come to the end of their term".

I cannot argue with the rules but I do not accept their interpretation.

There are, at present 14 vacant position on governing bodies of Sefton schools. These positions are earmarked for being taken up by the political groups. 

The current political representation on Sefton Council is:

Conservative: 12%, Liberal Democrat: 30%, Labour: 55%, Other 3%.

The  LA representation by political parties, until recently on governing bodies was: 

Conservative: 24%, Liberal Democrat: 36%, Labour: 40%

By sacking Maureen the balance became:

Conservative: 24%, Liberal Democrat: 35%, Labour: 41%.

THis still leaves Labour 14% short of their expected representation on governing bodies.

What puzzles me is, why didn't the Labour group fill the 14 vacant positions with their own parties nominations?

Without getting my slide rule out, it doesn't take a mathematician to realise that by doing so the proportionality would be addressed without the need to rip apart successful governing bodies just for political gain.

The list of current vacancies is as follows:

List of vacancies and recommendations 

SCHOOL                        VACANCY

CHURCH WARD 

Waterloo Primary                                    

Crosby                                             (24.08.11)  no nomination

DERBY WARD 

                                

Greenacre Nursery 

Bootle                                              (14.07.12) no nomination

FORD WARD

Hatton Hill Primary

Litherland                                           (05.10.10) no nomination

LINACRE WARD 

Thomas Gray Community Primary

Bootle                                                   (10.01.12) no nomination

LITHERLAND WARD 

Lander Road Primary

Litherland                                            (22.03.11) no nomination

Linacre Primary

Bootle                                                  (03.11.11)  no nomination

NETHERTON & ORRELL WARD 

St. Robert Bellarmine

Catholic Primary, Bootle                     (14.07.12) no nomination

PARK WARD 

St. John Bosco Catholic Primary   

Maghull Resignation                               (3.2.12) no nomination

RAVENMEOLS WARD

Our Lady of Compassion  

Catholic Primary, Formby          (27.10.12) no nomination

ST OSWALD WARD 

Netherton Moss Primary

Netherton                                             (13.07.10) no nomination

SUDELL WARD 

St. George’s Catholic Primary

Maghull                                                  (26.06.12) no nomination

VICTORIA WARD 

Forefield Infant School

Crosby                                                     (19.10.11)  no nomination

                                                     (02.05.11) no nomination

Forefield Junior School 

Crosby                                                      (15.5.11) no nomination

The figures in brackets indicate when the position became vacant.

PLease note that I have highlighted 2 of the schools where seats have been vacant for over 2 years!

There are 11 wards with vacancies that cannot be filled, but Labour decided that they needed to remove a Liberal Democrat governor from a school to redress the balance.

Or could it be that Labour are planning ahead for the local elections and putting candidates into schools in wards that they are likely to target. At the same time they leave schools with seats that have been vacant for months, or even years in 2 cases. 

putting politics before the best interests of schools does not go down well with me and I expect the voting public will feel the same.