Clause 29
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]
1:15 pm
Julia Goldsworthy (Falmouth and Camborne, Liberal Democrat)
Conservative Members think that the clause will water down the Widdecombe rules, and I share some of their concerns that it does appear to be a partial process: it will remove the salary restrictions but will not seek to put anything else in its place. Simply imposing an arbitrary wage level may not make sense, because some posts with lower wages may be politically sensitive and other posts that are above the threshold may not need to be politically restrictive. I would like greater freedom for local authorities to determine such things and to ensure that declarations of interest can be registered for all employees using a clear system.
Speaking as someone who was employed by a local council, I think that just because someone is unable to be politically active does not necessarily mean that their decisions are therefore impartial. Someone may not be able to declare their views publicly, but that does not mean that their private views might not cause similar difficulties. In this case, the Government have a much bigger story to tell. They are nibbling away at one aspect of it without necessarily giving people confidence that there is a process further down the line that will keep partiality out of key areas of government, as it rightly needs to be.