At Thursday’s full Council meeting at South Cambridgeshire District Council, Lib Dems chucked out a motion which asked for a vote on the four-day working week – and even proceeded to shut down the entire debate on the matter in a desperate attempt to save face.
Lib Dem Leader of the Council Cllr Bridget Smith can be seen talking over other councillors as she sought to close down the debate.
South Cambs Lib Dems introduced the four-day week trial for 470 desk-based staff in January 2023 – but only Lib Dem Cabinet members have been allowed to vote on it.
This means over 80% of elected councillors have not had a say on the four-day week – and it appears the Lib Dem leadership wants to silence councillors in any way they can.
The motion to debate the four-day week was made by Cllr Heather Williams, Leader of the Conservative group at South Cambs. The motion stated: ‘This Council will receive a report on the 4-day working week trial at the November 2023 meeting and will debate and vote as to whether or not the trial should continue.’
Lib Dems unanimously chucked out Cllr Heather Williams’s motion – denying the full Council the opportunity to vote on the four-day week.
Cllr Heather Williams responded how she was “extremely concerned” that councillors representing residents had been denied a vote.
Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group Cllr Graham Cone said it should be “perfectly reasonable for all councillors to have their say and a vote on this issue”.
Cllr Tom Bygott (Conservative, Longstanton) said, in one of the oldest democracies in the world, to disallow members a vote is “simply undemocratic”.
Then, as Leader of the Council, Cllr Smith proposed an undeclared motion to refer the item to Cabinet – the very small group of eight councillors that triggered the four-day week trial in the first place – effectively shutting down any debate on the four-day week.
This proves the Lib Dems are running scared from public scrutiny. By shamelessly refusing to listen to their public critics, South Cambs Lib Dems are resorting to dictatorial measures to maintain control of an increasingly out of control situation.
Cllr Heather Williams reacted in the meeting to the four-day week as a whole:
“The four-day week is something that affects every single one of our residents – whether you’re a Liberal Democrat councillor, a Conservative councillor, or an Independent councillor.
“Every single one of our residents is affected by this trial.
“£3.3 million will be spent in 12 months on salary for hours not worked. That is a huge amount of money – taxpayers’ money.
“The exclusion of all councillors is absolutely awful and shows complete contempt for the majority – 80% – of residents in South Cambridgeshire.”
