Opinion: Why Suffolk County Council is like a student union

It was the forum where those of us interested in politics could discuss what was happening at the university, the city, the country and worldwide.

The important things we discussed were what beers to have in the SU bar, whether we could afford an extra welfare officer, and how much support societies could get from the Union.

But then of course there were the sparky political debates - "This Union supports the Sandanistas' struggles in Nicaragua" or "We urge the Soviet Union to free Anatoly Sharansky."

I don't know whether anyone really thought Jimmy Carter or Leonid Brezhnev would be quaking in their boots at the news of a motion being passed by the UEA students union, but it made the participants feel better.

But it wasn't doing anything - it wasn't having any effect on the way the organisation operated. It was simply acting as a debating society.

And that's exactly what we've seen happening at Suffolk County Council over the last few days.

It seems to have forgotten that its six-weekly full council meetings are supposed to be to discuss the services it provides to the people of Suffolk and to have just gone in for some super-charged political showboating.

I know the withdrawal of the winter fuel payment for most pensioners is hugely controversial.

It's been condemned across the political spectrum - even the Labour Party Conference last month passed a motion objecting to it.

Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have shown absolutely no sign of being swayed by these condemnations so far. 

So does anyone really think they're going to say: "Oh dear the Conservative-controlled Suffolk County Council is against this. We must change course immediately!"

Please, let's have a reality check.

What would have been far better would have been if the administration had looked at ways of easing the pressure that many pensioners will be facing - urging support for the Surviving Winter campaign that seems likely to suffer and other charities looking to help out.

In the event the ruling Conservative Group put up an explicitly political motion which could not be supported by any opposition parties - even those who are as vehemently opposed to the proposal as they are.

We ended up with it being passed by only Tory members - meaning the authority wasted council time and money on a debate and presumably a strong letter to the government that everyone knows will be ignored.

Few could have had any objection if the Tory group had sent a strong letter to the government if it made them feel better. 

It was reasonable for Matthew Hicks to raise winter fuel payments in his column - but not to spend public time and money on a pointless political debate during a council meeting. (Image: Suffolk County Council)

It was perfectly reasonable for council leader Matthew Hicks to make clear his, and his party's, objections to the policy in his column in this publication a few weeks ago.

But involving the council as a whole feels wrong.

To be fair this is not just a Conservative issue. I can remember Ipswich council putting forward motions condemning the poll tax in the late 80s/early 90s. 

The poll tax was abolished - but I feel fairly safe in saying Labour-controlled Ipswich Borough Council's objections to it were nothing compared with those of the Tory backbenchers!

Official working time for councillors and officers is precious. It is also rather dubious to involve non-political officers in overtly political issues like council condemnations of government policy.

In future I hope our local politicians concentrate on local issues and how they can help their own residents in the council chamber and leave their grand political posturing for their spare time.

The opinions expressed in this column are the personal views of Paul Geater and do not necessarily reflect views held by this newspaper, its sister publications or its owner and publisher Newsquest Media Group Ltd.