Clause 12. — (Committees.)

Part of Orders of the Day — Local Government (Scotland) Bill. – in the House of Commons at on 7 February 1929.

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Photo of Mr George Hardie Mr George Hardie , Glasgow Springburn

In the case of a town council like that of Glasgow, where one-third of the members retire every year, you cannot get what may be called an election period which would determine what the length of service of a co-opted member is to be. There is nothing in this Clause to indicate that, once a co-opted member is there, he has any particular period to serve, or that it is possible to remove him from his appointment. There is nothing even to indicate that the parent body which makes the co-option shall at any time take powers to remove a co-opted member should he prove to be unsuited for the work of the committee to which he has been appointed. This question must be faced if the Measure is to be made workable. The question of an election period must go by the board, since only one-third of the members of the council are elected every year; there is never a general election unless there is some change in the burgh area or something of that kind.

With regard to the possibility of the co-opted members being in a majority, I can conceive of that happening in the absence of a sufficient number of elected members. It is all very well to say that the parent body would deal with that, but this is a point which must be considered if the Bill is to work efficiently. Suppose that a committee meets on a very special question, and the number of co-opted members present is greater than the number of elected members, and they come to some decision, no matter whether it involves finance or not. Supposing that that decision is taken on the day after the council meeting, it will not be until 30 days afterwards that the decision of the committee will come before the council. I admit that under the Bill the parent body has the control of finance, but the decision may relate to a matter which they cannot control from the point of view of knowledge.