NI Conservatives’ environment spokesman, Bill Manwaring, has accused the executive of “plotting a blatant abuse of electoral process” ahead of next year’s council elections. Bill was responding to the DOE’s proposed severance arrangements for councillors, which were published on Friday and are intended take effect when the 26 existing local authorities are merged into 11 new council areas.
“Not only has Alex Attwood proposed that councillors pocket up to £35,000 for retiring from a supposedly unpaid, voluntary position”, Bill explained. “The DOE also plans to allow councillors to stand down a few months ahead of next year’s elections, so that the executive parties can co-opt replacements to councils and get a head start before voters get a say in who represents them.”
“It is quite clear that there is no justification for this blatant manipulation. It is entirely reasonable to expect serving councillors to remain in post until May next year and the 26 councils will still function until 2015, so representatives who are newly elected to the 11 councils in 2014 will have more than enough time to acquire the necessary experience, before they assume the previous administrations’ duties.”
“The only possible reason to co-opt new councillors in the months leading up to the election is to give the executive parties an unfair advantage. The 11 council model is supposed to offer a fresh start for Northern Ireland local government, yet here we have the parties shamelessly plotting to limit competition and deliver the same old, failing councils.”
“This proposal is an attack on local democracy and NI Conservatives urge as many people as possible to respond to this consultation to demand that Attwood’s electoral manipulation is stopped.”