Marking Assignments

A comment on a previous post asks:

"Do you have to give the Opposition scrutiny chairs, committee assignments, and all that? When our Rainbow Coalition takes control of County Hall in May, could we give Labour absolutely nothing?" 

The most distinguished politician on Durham County Council, who was Labour for decades at District level but who was elected to the new unitary authority as an Independent, has no committee assignments whatever.

He is also a stalwart supporter of the Teaching Assistants, and he is the Patron of my council and parliamentary campaign. He assures me that he is standing again in his own ward next year.

It would depend on the numbers, of course. But so long as no Scrutiny Chair had the same affiliation as the corresponding Portfolio Holder, then there would be no reason to give Labour anything at all.

As much as anything else, that would put Durham County Council under at least the partial control of people with the direct line of more or less daily communication with the Leader of the Labour Party that we in and around the TAs' campaign enjoy.

On the longest-standing Labour council in the country, the largest Labour Group in local government has absolutely no such contact. For all practical purposes, it is not part of the Labour Party.

Whereas, for all practical purposes, the campaign to remove it from office is the Labour Party.