Leader's Monthly Report (Norfolk County Council Liberal Democrats)

Norfolk County Council Liberal Democrats <info@norfolkcclibdems.org.uk>

Leader's Monthly Report

June 4, 2010 12:00 AM

The General Election seems an age ago now, but it is only 4 weeks ago that the nation voted. Given how high we had risen in the polls, losing 5 seats overall was a major disappointment. Why we were unable to sustain the momentum we had I just don't know. Locally we did well, with Norman Lamb increasing his majority significantly and Simon Wright winning in Norwich South.

I am firmly behind us being part of the coalition Government. The arithmetic of the new House of Commons - and indeed the share of the vote - meant that we had to see if we could work with the Conservatives. It would have been irresponsible and immature to do otherwise, you can hardly talk about a 'new politics' and then walk away when the opportunity arises to implement it.

The resignation of David Laws from the Cabinet is a blow to our party, the Government but above all the country. There is cross-party recognition that he is a politician of the highest quality. It is good to see some Liberal Democrat policies having a high priority in the Government's programme - taxation, a funding premium for disadvantaged pupils, political reforms and some health policies for example. We are concerned as a Group though by the Government's plans to allow schools to become Academies outside Local Authority 'control'; this seems a return to Grant Maintained Schools, which were a disaster.

From a local perspective it is reassuring to have Norman Lamb in such a key role, namely Principal Parliamentary and Political Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister.

Thankfully the coalition will be legislating to prevent the Norwich Unitary from going ahead. As a party we support unitary governance in principle. The only viable option presented by the Boundary Committee was for a single countywide unitary, but politics got in the way of its active consideration.

Within our group we have made a change in Member's responsibilities with Mervyn Scutter deciding to concentrate on his work as Deputy Leader, with the additional responsibilities now of communications and consultations, and Mike Brindle becoming Children's Services spokesperson, a position Mervyn has held with distinction for nearly a decade. Mike is the perfect replacement for Mervyn who will now be better able to use his wide experience to influence our work across all policy areas.

Finally I read with interest that the proposed merger between Breckland and South Norfolk councils is now off. I have no evidence, but guess there is a lot more behind this decision that the published reason.