Scepticism over code of conduct
A new code of conduct for Sandwell councillors to follow has been met with scepticism by a former leader of the authority.
A meeting of the full council, which took place on Tuesday evening, approved the new code, complaints procedure and social media policy for members to follow.
But Yvonne Davies said the arrangements would be “no use” to them if breaches of the code by councillors were not punished.
Councillor Davies stepped down as authority leader last July after she was suspended by the Labour Party as it investigated allegations she had posted anti-Semitic tweets, claims she has strongly denied.
The ruling Sandwell Labour group has been dogged by controversies for a number of years with allegations of corruption, bullying, leaking of confidential information and racism.
Earlier this year, the party’s National Executive Committee launched an internal investigation into the ongoing civil war amongst the Sandwell group.
Councillor Davies said: “Not all members take the code of conduct seriously so I think we need to be much stronger on standards.
“If the code of conduct is just a piece of paper, it is of no use to us.
“People have to abide by it and when it is felt they are not abiding by it, there needs to be action taken and I’ve yet to be convinced we have a code of conduct that’s actually going to deliver us higher standards in public life.”
Councillor Ian Jones added the code would rely on the integrity of Labour councillors to declare interests where they have been subject to investigations from the party.
He said: “The members code is only as good as the members who are actually then making contributions or even sitting in judgement and I’m sure that is something we all want.”
Councillor Peter Hughes, who sat on the committee that devised the code of conduct said: “There has been an extensive amount of work gone into this.
“When we were contributing, I was aware we needed to go forward from now with an attitude that the council wants to make sure it’s councillors are abiding fully by the Nolan principles.
“We need to move on from the position where we’ve been and we need to make sure that our council is one to be proud of and people looking on think it is one that is fairly run and is done within integrity.”
