Lib Dem councillors have voted against holding a referendum on a council’s 4-day week.
Lib Dem-run South Cambridgeshire District Council has been running a 4 days’ work for 5 days’ pay scheme since January 2023 – meaning residents have paid for over 104 extra days’ holiday for council staff so far.
At the council’s annual budget meeting on Tuesday, Conservative opposition councillors tabled their budget proposals – which included calling for a referendum on the 4-day week.
Cllr Bridget Smith, Lib Dem Leader of the Council, previously dismissed a referendum on the 4-day week as “meaningless”.
As expected, therefore, the Lib Dems unanimously voted down the proposal for a 4-day week referendum – once again denying residents the chance to have the final say on this.
During the meeting, Cllr Heather Williams, Leader of the Conservative Opposition at South Cambridgeshire District Council, expressed her disappointment at the Lib Dems’ determination to impose obstacles to democracy:
“If the ruling group are so confident that this is the way forward and they would have the support, then why will they not ask the question? The time has come to ask residents if they are happy with this and our budget proposal seeks to address this. We will continue to fight for residents to have their say on how their money is spent.”
