Ipswich council denies 'dictatorship' label by opposition

Leaders for the Conservatives Councillor Ian Fisher and Liberal Democrat leader Oliver Holmes have voiced their frustrations at the running of Labour-led executive meetings.

Both councillors criticised the speed of discussion, the holding of pre-meetings and the fact the borough is the only council in Suffolk to not live stream meetings after Covid - a measure the council says is due to cost.

Cllr Ian Fisher likened it to a North Korean dictatorship. (Image: IBC)

Cllr Fisher said: “The public wants to see how these decisions have been reached but at the moment they [executive] sit there and it’s like a nodding shop, they’ll say yes to anything.

“It’s a bit like a North Korean dictatorship, to be honest — you can’t tell me that with that very wide and diverse group of people, there isn’t some kind of challenge.”

Responding to the comments, a borough council spokesperson added the current arrangements for the meetings were the same as they were for the previous administration.

The spokesperson added: “While it is true that some items generate more discussion and debate than others within the actual Executive meeting, there is nothing that prohibits such debate and decisions are certainly not made elsewhere."

The opposition leaders have, however, brought up the level of questioning actually happening during meetings.

In the past year, 58 substantive items have been discussed by the council’s executive during their 11 total meetings, spawning 86 public questions — out of these, only one question came from a Labour member.

Instead, 52 questions were brought up by Cllr Fisher, while the other 33 came from one of three Lib Dem councillors.

Cllr Fisher said: “I’m not saying for one minute that the other Labour members of the executive don’t question some decisions, but the questioning is all done behind closed doors.

“If we’re going to have these public meetings then I think there should be more discussion and there should be more opportunity for all councillors to ask questions."

On average an Ipswich Borough Council executive meeting is around 48 minutes, in comparison with other authorities such as East Suffolk and Mid Suffolk whose meetings are 87 and 74 minutes respectively. 

Both leaders said this was due to Ipswich’s Labour administration running a tight ship which discourages members from criticising decisions, suggesting it could be due to fears of being deselected.

Cllr Oliver Holmes has raised his concerns about the running of the meetings. (Image: IBC)

Cllr Holmes said: “I think it’s controlled and I think it’s deliberate, the Labour administration wants to keep very close control of its members and decisions it reaches.”

He added the council should optimise its website so information and planning applications were more easily accessible to the public.

The council spokesperson added that members of the Constitution Working Group, which is made up of members of all three parties on the borough, can propose changes.

The spokesperson added: “So if, for example, Councillors wish to propose changes to the arrangements for questions at Executive, they have a route to do so.”