Edgbaston councillor attacks plans for voting in Birmingham council debates from remote locations
Feb 10 2009 by Neil Elkes, Birmingham Mail
GOVERNMENT plans to allow councillors to vote from the pub or the comfort of their own sofa have been called “outrageous” by a senior city politician.
Conservative Deirdre Alden, who is currently enjoying her tenth year as a Birmingham City councillor, believes plans to allow councillors to vote by text or email from remote locations will harm democracy and weaken public confidence in local government.
The Government has outlined plans to bring council chambers into the 21st century with elected councillors able use the latest video conference technology to attend, follow a debate, speak and even vote from remote locations.
But critics, including a vast majority of local councils consulted over the proposal, insist that councillors should attend meetings and votes.
Edgbaston councillor Alden said it would allow representatives to cast their vote on crucial local issues while lounging on the sofa at home, concentrating on something else at work, or even downing a pint at the local pub.
She said: “Councillors are elected to do a job of work for their constituents and they are paid out of the public purse to do it. The idea that they could not have to bother turning up to listen to debates on important local issues such as licensing, planning and the rate at which council tax is set, but still cast their vote remotely while busy doing something else, is completely outrageous.
“Members of the public will be furious about this. The whole idea shows how completely out of touch this discredited Labour Government has become.”
Councils consulted fear that decisions taken in empty meeting rooms lined with laptops or video screens would lack transparency and accountability and be open to legal challenge.
A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: “The Government believes it is right that these technologies are applied to help overcome the barriers of time, circumstance and distance.”
