Councillor ‘Silenced’ at Full Council Meeting

By Nadia Lincoln, Local Democracy Reporter

The Reform UK administration at West Northamptonshire Council has been accused of ‘concocting a vote to silence’ an opposition councillor.

It follows a decision at Monday’s full council meeting to bar the leader of the Liberal Democrat group, Councillor Jonathan Harris, who represents Brixworth, from speaking for the remainder of the meeting.

A Reform spokesperson has denied that the motion was about silencing a member, but said that it was a result of “repeated disruptive and disrespectful behaviour, including unfounded allegations”.

The motion to stop the councillor from being heard was proposed by West Northants Council (WNC) leader Mark Arnull, in response to comments the Lib Dem councillor had made about a recent scrutiny meeting call-in, where Reform UK members were accused of reading from pre-prepared speeches.

Cllr Harris claimed in the full council chamber that Cllr Arnull left the scrutiny meeting and told one of his party colleagues, “This isn’t good, I’ll deal with it,” in reference to the call-in situation.

However, the Reform UK council leader raised a point of order to the chairman, saying that members needed to be extremely careful “making allegations without proof or evidence”.

He then moved a motion that Cllr Harris “be not further heard this evening”, which is allowed under the council’s constitution and prevents the member from taking part in debate.

Before the motion went to a vote, Cllr Harris announced he would leave the meeting, which was met with applause from the other side of the chamber. Despite this, the vote still went ahead and was carried with Reform’s majority.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the meeting, Cllr Harris said he had never seen the constitutional barring rule used in the seven years that he has been an elected member.

He said: “I think the word I would use is disappointment. The messaging that we hear continually on a local and national level is about allowing people to say what they want to say and express their views, their thoughts and their opinions, but clearly last night demonstrated that if you express views they don’t like or don’t agree with, they use this rarely used clause in the constitution to stop you.

“This demonstrates that they have a mechanism that they can close people down if they want, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they use it again. It does feel to me that things are on a bit of a slippery slope.

“I won’t be silenced, I have a duty and responsibility to the people who elected me and to my team, and I have every right to say what I need to say. I just think it was quite childish and in the end, it’s definitely a spitting the dummy out moment.”

A Facebook status posted by Cllr Harris on the situation received cross-party support, including from the former Conservative council leader of WNC, Adam Brown.

The former council leader, who is not currently an elected member, wrote: “This is an outrageous display of contempt for our democracy.

“As much as I may have disagreed with you when we sat together in the chamber, and my eyes rolled on more than one occasion, I would never have dreamt of gagging you or any other member.”

According to the council’s constitution, if at a meeting any councillor “misconducts themselves in any way”, any other councillor may move “That the councillor be not further heard”. If seconded, this must move to an immediate vote without further discussion.

There is a role for the chair to adjudicate and for the Monitoring Officer to provide advice on the situation.

Cllr Mark Arnull has told the LDRS that the decision to stop Cllr Harris from speaking was not about silencing a member or preventing scrutiny.

“The procedural motion I raised, followed repeated disruptive and disrespectful behaviour, including unfounded allegations where a right of reply was not available in the chamber,” he said.

“All councillors may challenge and debate, but they should follow standards that allow meetings to function effectively. The motion was a proportionate step to maintain order and ensure fair and respectful proceedings.

“Claims of ‘gagging’ are entirely misplaced. Robust political debate carries responsibilities, including upholding respect for the chairman, fellow members and the democratic process. There is no place for the kind of disrespectful behaviour displayed by Cllr Harris during full council last night.”