The end of an era

As has been widely reported, Tuesday saw the end of Alec Robertson's time as the Leader of Cornwall Council.

The vote of no confidence reflected the frustration of council members at the lack of regard that the cabinet had for their views and the arrogance with which those views were dismissed on a regular basis - from ignoring a vote of the full council to disregarding the work of advisory panels.

Of course there may have just been a little bit of political intrigue and concern from Conservative members who maybe saw Cllr Robertson's administration as an electoral liability come May (or perhaps simple internecene rivalry).

No doubt the Shared Services scheme was the catalyst and final straw and seemed to be the biggest concern in the election of a new Leader.

Jim Currie was elected as he has argued against the current proposal and vowed to stop it.

The thing is we need to ensure that privatisation of public services is not just delayed but is written out of Cornwall's political agenda for good.

It should be noted that in recent weeks MK have moved up a level of political influence.

MK now has 6 councillors on Cornwall councillors - double the original number of 2009.

A few weeks ago Dick Cole formulated a plan downgrading the Cabinet's Core Strategy to build 49,000 houses in Cornwall to 38,000. The plan was fully evidenced and persuaded a cross party group to recommend a downgrade to the proposed number of houses to be built.

Then on Tuesday MK became the power brokers. The decison between the new choice for leader was a simple one. Business as usual under Cllr Burden or an end to the shared services scheme under Cllr Currie. The vote was a close one but the MK vote made the crucial difference.

But as I said above, and as Rob Simmons has pointed out here , we need to continue the fight against Tory ideological privatisation schemes.

Last night, at a meeting of Illogan Parish Council, I proposed the motion that IPC believed that Cornwall Council should not proceed with the Shared Services provision and that the council should make this opinion known to Cornwall Council. The motion was passed with no votes against although there were a few abstentions.

MK will be continuing to lead the fight against destructive and expensive schemes based on ideology rather than any sensible policy to improve the community wellbeing. We will be putting Cornwall first.