Brighton's opposition leader shares frustration at missing councillors

The Green opposition leader Steve Davis estimated that Bharti Gajjar and Chandni Mistry had together received allowances totalling about £23,000 since last May.

The possibility of withholding allowances in future was raised after Brighton and Hove City Council’s interim chief executive Will Tuckley who said that there was currently no way of doing so.

Councillors lose their seat if they fail to turn up to a formal meeting for six months but councils limited power to deal with other concerns in relation to their conduct.

Mr Tuckley said that the council was looking into the possibility of withholding allowances if councillors failed to attend meetings for a shorter period than six months.

Ms Gajjar and Miss Mistry were elected as Labour councillors for Kemptown and Queen’s Park wards respectively last May.

They were expelled from Labour in December after an internal Labour Party investigation into election irregularities.

The pair, who attended a meeting of the full council in October, then spent less than an hour in the chamber for another full council meeting on Thursday 1 February. They left less than an hour into the five-hour meeting before the main business started.

They resigned as councillors on Tuesday 5 March, citing their studies as medical students as the reason.

On Wednesday (13 March) Sussex Police said that an investigation had found “insufficient evidence” to charge either of the former councillors with electoral malpractice.

Councillor Davis wrote to Mr Tuckley before the two councillors resigned: “We estimate that collectively these two councillors have now pocketed an allowance of around £23,000 total since they were elected.

“At a time of severe budget cuts to the council, we cannot stand by while two individuals who clearly show no regard for council business or democratic representation take home money that could otherwise be used to save services residents desperately need.

“This amount for example is roughly the same as the cost of the 79 bus to Ditchling Beacon that is subject to cuts and a community petition calling for it to be retained.”

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Councillor Davis said: “Frustration is my feeling in a nutshell.

“I am confident of the £23,000 figure and, in a time of public service crisis, this is an insult to the most vulnerable in our city who are losing services hand over fist.

“Long term, we have to review custom and practice around what we do if a councillor only ‘pops by’ and doesn’t stay for the business.”

Mr Tuckley wrote in reply that, legally, councillors need only attend one meeting every six months and there was “no mechanism” to withhold allowances.

Mr Tuckley said that there was no system for “recalling” councillors and that the law set out the rules around disqualification for failing to attend meetings – and the council did not have the power to override the law.

He said: “The council does not have a means to force a member to attend meetings beyond the statutory minimum or answer constituent’s inquiries. We do not have a system for ‘recalling’ councillors.

“People can, of course, submit a complaint to the council for breach of the code of conduct for members under the standards procedures. But the power of councils to impose sanctions was removed by the Localism Act 2011.

“They can only censure a member and make recommendations to the member, their group leader and their political group.

“You may recall that the possibility of withholding allowances was raised at (a meeting of) group leaders.

“We are looking at the feasibility of amending our scheme to provide for withholding members’ allowances if a member fails to attend a meeting for a set period without triggering … disqualification.

“However, given that all basic allowances have to be the same for all councillors, we are not sure whether it would be legally safe to do so. But we are looking at it.”