Regional power.

One small point I would raise in regard to the above

A few years ago the Labour Council spent £90 million building a new retail centre in town which they then set about destroying the footfall in other areas of town to promote. One such measure was closing a main shopping street away from their new cash cow to buses. A large number of traders and pub and club owners near that street all lived in one ward and two of their councillors, both labour, first voted and spoke vociferously against these measures that were clearly designed to disadvantage his constituents.

As a result one of these people walked from the party, calling himself an independent and acting as such. He stood as an independent at the election the next year and won the first seat in the ward by a huge margin. The other forcibly ejected from the party came second by a similar amount.

Two others one a chap that used to be my councillor and now my daughter’s and a second a ward colleague also got ejected from the labour group and similarly stood as independents. In their case they objected to the breaking of rules by yhe then labour leader now in the lords who violated process to keep her pal on the payroll in spite of his failure to turn up for meetings.

I set all of that down as background so you can see the degree to which labour in Newport ride roughshod over things

But they went too far with their next move

As I am sure you know, committees etc are supposed to have representation across the elected spectrum. By not being part of a ‘recognised group’ the independent councillors were denied access to representation on those committees

And then the anti democratic bitch signed her own death warrant by extending those powers in a closed meeting to deny access to the floor at plenary meetings to any not part of a group.

I say sign her own death warrant because under the PPERA (political parties elections and referenda act) 2000 the new construct of a local political party was created. All the independent councillors agreed to form and join the Newport Indendent Councillors Party whose pretty much sole aim on the articles of association define it as a party meeting the definition of a local party under the PPERA formed for the specific purpose of affording independent councillors elected to Newport Council a formal group to join in order to have their voice heard in council under new measures imposed by the Labour Chair.

With that party in place their votes counted and they threw the bitch off the top seat. Rather than have her totalitarian stance exposed the party told her to take the offered peerage and fuck off.

My point is sometimes there are reasons for an independent to join a group.

I presume the sort of thing you refer to is that which took place in Cwmbran up the road.

After an almighty row with residents several labour councillors found their arses in the gutter and their seats taken by independents. The next year saw several labour hacks throw in their rosettes and stand as independents but within six months all of them had ‘joined’ the labour group or voted with them. Labour in all but name. At the next election none were re elected