SCHOOL CLOSURES THREATENS COUNCIL CHAOS
The threatened closure of three Bristol primary schools could cause the collapse of the current Labour minority Administration on the 'hung' Council in the wake of a Tory threat to bring a “vote of no confidence.”
Last October, the City's Labour-run Cabinet announced that it would axe St George CE, St Pius X RC and Stockwood Green primaries as part of it Primary School Review.
However, the plan was immediately put on-hold as a result of a successful Conservative “call-in” of the decision by Tory leader Councillor Richard Eddy and Stockwood councillor Jay Jethwa.
A specially convened Call-In Panel of backbench councillors meeting on 17th November 2008 supported the challenge and referred it for debate by the Full Council.
At a stormy meeting two week ago, Conservative and Lib Dem councillors united to demand that all three schools should be saved. Instead, they wanted the Council to look at alternatives to closure, including expanding capacity at St George and creating a partnership or federation between the three existing primaries in Stockwood.
Both Opposition Parties warned that the Cabinet was now in the “last chance saloon” and should beware of pushing ahead with the controversial closures.
Now the Tories have dramatically raised the stakes by implicitly threatening to call a 'vote of no confidence' in the minority Labour Council if the Cabinet endorses the closures at the 5.00 pm meeting today.
In a statement to the meeting, Conservative leader Cllr Richard Eddy says: “Labour does not command a majority on this Council - indeed it barely has one-third of the seats.
“At the formation of this Administration in May 2007, Cllr Holland made much of the fact that she recognised this reality and pledged to break with the past and run the Council in a more collaborative fashion.
“If you fail to honour this pledge, then the Labour Party will be directly responsible for the consequences which flow from such an abuse of power.”
According to Council rules, five or more councillors can demand an Extraordinary Council Meeting and table a vote of no confidence in the Council Executive.
Labour has 24 councillors to the Liberal Democrats 32, the Tories 13, and 1 Green. Last year, Labour was expected to lose control of the Council when the Conservatives voted against Cllr Helen Holland as Leader of Council but, in a surprise move, the Lib Dems (who are the largest Group) refused to take over.
