I think the point which David and his friend Vanessa are trying, without much success, to make, is that members of the Community Group who either opposed or abstained from the vote on Members' Allowance increases did so in the certain knowledge that the recommendation would be passed.This is quite demonstrably not the case. At least three Conservatives either abstained or voted against the proposed increases, as did one Liberal Democrat, four ICG councillors and Councillor John Connelly. Nobody who cast his or her vote on the night could have done so with any "certain knowledge" that the proposal would have been carried. Indeed, had any two of the six Labour councillors who mysteriously failed to appear on the night done so it would not have been.I'm afraid Vanessa is judging others by her own standards, and by those of the organisation to which she still clearly owes her allegiance. You can take the lady out of the Labour Party but, when you are dealing with somebody who operates at her particular end of the moral spectrum, it is difficult to separate the party from the lady.The only occasion on which I have witnessed the cynical "vote counting" of which Vanessa complains was at the time of the campaign to keep John Aird House open, when one Councillor Valerie Lamey, who had chaired a Scrutiny Panel which had recommended keeping the facility open, then turned full circle and abstained on a proposal to support her own recommendation, after having first performed a "head count" to ensure that her party (with which she disagreed) would triumph. What a strange way the people who comprise the mindless, robotic religious order which is the New Labour Party appear to operate.In practical terms the new allowance structure means nothing to me. What I gain on the one hand I will lose on the other. It is quite possible that I will actually be worse off. But let's cut the hypocrisy.Vanessa was one of the leading exponents of allowance increases when she was an elected member, at the time when allowances were originally increased by over 100% under the leadership of Councillor John Connelly. The only thing that has changed is that she will no longer be a beneficiary. I have the press cuttings with which to illustrate this, and will post them up here if I need to.How frankly typical, not to mention self-motivated and petulant, her current behaviour is.
Angi Hanson ● 6493d