Very few commentators (especially the Lib Dem variety) would have predicted that the fresh approach to scrutiny at Swansea Council could have produced such an early upfront attitude to a tough issue like schools reorganisation.Of course, it’s a small start and scrutiny is as much about asking the right questions as understanding the issue but it represents a vast improvement on past practice shown by the administration.
Update: Would we be correct in thinking that a comment about “opportunists will jump on the anti bandwagon as they always have done” on the Dead Duck spin-site is a reference to councillors Kinzett, May and Morgan who famously broke ranks with the ruling regime just hours before an official handstand was announced over the proposed closure of Dylan Thomas School? Maybe not.
By the way, our understanding is that Labour councillors are not constrained by any group whip when serving or speaking on scrutiny committees – a national ruling which existed prior to the ‘ascendancy’ of the Lib Dem led coalition but one that they patently felt unable to adopt for themselves.
