Clash over 'personal attacks' as RBWM cabinet changes are discussed

The council leader and a former cabinet member clashed over ‘personal attacks’ as changes to the political make-up of Royal Borough panels and a cabinet reshuffle were discussed on Tuesday.

A shake-up was required in the Royal Borough after two councillors changed their affiliation in December.

Cllr Jack Douglas was suspended by the Lib Dems and is now listed as an independent, while Councillor Geoff Hill – previously an independent councillor – switched to the Lib Dems. Cllr Douglas also left his cabinet position.

Local government rules mean seats on panels and committees should be proportionately allocated by political group ‘so far as reasonably practicable’.

Two councillors, including Cllr Douglas, are now not considered by the Royal Borough to be part of a political group, so the proportion of representatives for each group needed to change.

At a Town Hall council meeting on Tuesday (January 20), councillors approved the new seat allocation, with these ‘coming into effect immediately’.

Councillor Adam Bermange, cabinet member for governance, said : “The [political balance rules] require proportional representation across committees, prioritising a majority control and preventing single group dominance.”

Alongside these changes, the Royal Borough cabinet has also been reshuffled after Cllr Douglas’ departure, but these cabinet changes were only noted at the meeting 

Cllr Bermange (Lib Dem, Boyn Hill) has taken over the adult services brief from Cllr Catherine Del Campo, alongside his existing role overlooking planning and governance.

Cllr Del Campo (Lib Dem, Furze Platt) will cover housing services, housing delivery and health.

Councillor Chris Moriarty (Lib Dem, Cox Green) is now part of the cabinet, as the lead member for corporate services, transformation and asset management.

Asset management was previously Cllr Bermange’s responsibility.

But Cllr Douglas said he ‘can’t vote for this’, raising questions around the changes to councillors’ portfolios.

Cllr Douglas said: “The adults [services] budget this year is £63million. We had our best person in cabinet on that, and she is competent and very hard-working. It’s true that even she couldn’t stop the budget [from] spiralling.

“That is possible to do, but it’s really hard work, but now we’re replacing her with someone who works one day a week.

“It looks to me like you’ve given up. You’ve given up on savings, you’ve given up on transformation, your only answer to every question is ‘put council tax up’.

“I can’t vote for this; you’re taking your best players off the pitch at half time.”

Responding later in the discussion, the leader of the council, Cllr Simon Werner (Lib Dem, Pinkneys Green), hit back and said he was ‘a little bit disappointed’ by the comments.

Cllr Werner said: “I think these personal attacks that are being made are just, sort of the lowest form of politics. I am really disappointed that some councillors sink to these levels.

“I suppose that’s the nature of the kind of toxic politics that we need to get used to. But I’m still sad that although we escaped it so far on the whole here, we’re now going to have to put up with this more Trumpian approach of some members.”

Cllr Bermange said he ‘certainly would echo’ the appreciation given to Cllr Del Campo for the ‘amazing work’ she has been doing so far for housing and adults services.

“I’ve certainly been working extremely hard in asset management over the last two-and-a-half years, so I intend to work just as hard if not harder in my new role as well,” he added.