10 November 2009

A senior Labour Councillor in Plymouth today accused their Conservatives in the city of abandoning mature politics in a "dash for glory" in a row over the allocation of a huge Building Schools for the Future grant from the Labour Government.

The Plymouth cabinet has agreed to set up a committee comprising three cabinet members who have voting rights, with a further conservative member as an observer. Labour's Children's spokesperson has been invited but only to observe too.

Cllr Pauline Purnell, the Shadow Children's Services spokesperson is bitterly disappointed at this change of direction. She said "When Labour was in power, the PFI board was an all-party group, with councillors and officers round the table. We insisted on voting membership being drawn from the main political parties. It was important to do that as major projects like this often outlast political administrations. They didn't even consult us on these governance arrangements, which doesn't bode well for the operation of the committee itself."

"Now it seems that all-party working has been abandoned when it suits the Conservatives. They asked for, and freely got, our support for the bid for government funds. Labour MPs were instrumental in lobbying for it. Now they've got the cash, they alone will decide how it is spent. It's immature politics, which is bad for the council but even worse for schools."

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