A SWINE OF A MAN
LORD PETER SMITH
An opportunity will arise come May 2010 to oust Lord Peter Smith from his very own Wigan Council throne and rid - once and for all - this pompous, autocratic and bigoted fool from his self made ivory tower were he regally gloats from at our expense.
In fact, we have two bites at the cherry to dethrone Lord 'Ha Ha' but the first option is to change the way we are currently governed.
You have the offer below to read for yourself about this issue and one which is taken directly from the council's Borough Life quarterly magazine.
It is very evident reading this article that the council lackeys who wrote this seem particularly ill at ease with the potential threat of the disposal of their 'fuhrer' and thus resort to using such propagandistic text to dispel and rubbish the option of a directly elected mayor.
Obviously, by giving you and me - us mere mortals a chance to change the way we are 'dictated' to, is a definate no-no for the gestapo in the chambers! For it will certainly rip the heart out of Lord Smith's already bulging but dubious wallet as well as having an even more devastating effect on the rest of Peter's 'suidae' family of corrupt hangers-on or more commonly known as 'his' employees and co-conspirators on his select ten cabinet. And those who would have no place or use in the 'real' world if it wasn't for the huge creation of non-jobs throughout the council corridors and beyond and all at the behest of Lord Smith! How are we doing by the way Mr Elliot Brown? And I certainly mustn't forget to mention our Myra!! Wink...Wink...Nudge...Nudge... Say no more!!
And lest we forget that it was also Lord Peter Smith who orchestrated the ludicrous doomed to failure "congestion charge" debacle, and this whilst holding the position of head of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities.
The cost of promoting the 'YES' to the 'C' Charge campaign ran into £millions and is now another unjust financial burden around not only the necks of the Wigan and Leigh taxpayers, but, additionally on all the others who so happen to be living in Greater Manchester as a whole.
These are the words of Lord Smith quoted on the day before the Congestion Charge results:
(Lord Peter Smith, leader of Wigan council, chipped in to the debate on the Queen's speech in the upper chamber yesterday.)
"I have resisted any attempt to speak on transport," he said. "One of my roles is chair of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities. We conducted a referendum campaign on a transport package and I have spoken far too much about transport.
"The results will be out at lunchtime on Friday when I will see whether I will be depressed all weekend..."
I hope you are still depressed! No wonder Smithy's corner want to steer clear of any referendum going on this past drubbing he got!
You can also sense their unease as the article continues by these comments:
. An elected mayor would be a very different animal to the non-political ceremonial mayor that Wigan has had for hundreds of years.
. Once again, the mayor would be in power for four years but the difference is that there would be no way for the council or the public to remove him or her during that period. A directly elected mayor doesn’t have to be a councillor and may not even have the support of a majority of councillors.
.There could be difficulties if the elected mayor is unable to command the support of a majority of councillors.
. Another issue is the cost of holding a separate election for an elected mayor.
I really don't think the matter of cost should be brought into the equation by the council, certainly as we see such wastage of our monies on the likes of the ByoU and Rafiki/Motswako projects that they have selfishly contributed to over the decade or so.
A brief but interesting history of elected mayors can be found here: Elected Mayors in United Kingdom
To date there have been 37 referendums on whether to establish an elected mayor in English local authorities. Twelve have been passed and 25 rejected by the voters.
To cause a referendum, the normal procedure is for the council to request it, which has happened in 22 cases. In 14, the voters themselves have requested a referendum by petition and in one (Southwark) central Government forced the holding of a referendum
I think this is too good an opportunity to pass over and would urge that we all get our heads together and start promoting a referendum by petition forthwith. And let them know we have all had enough.
The other option we have at our disposal is to beat Lord Ha Ha in May 2010 when is tenure of councillor for the Leigh West ward is also up for grabs!
