BCP Council debate on winter fuel payment hijacked by party politics

Conservative leader Phil Broadhead tabled a motion calling for BCP Council to bring forward an awareness campaign to alert those eligible for pension credit. 

Lib Dem cabinet member Richard Herrett said it is the first time he has agreed with a Conservative “so succinctly” for a while, but said “context is important”. 

He said: “A lot of us would have preferred the government made a different choice, however, there is a reason why they are in this decision.” 

Millie Earl (Image: Daily Echo)

Cllr Herrett asked for the motion be amended to include the top line about that local and national finances are in the “extremely difficult” situation due to the “recklessness” of previous Conservative administrations. 

Lib Dem council leader Millie Earl said it “isn’t playing politics to point out the fact that this is a failure of the previous Conservative government”. 

“I think it’s a failure of the current Labour government actually [...] however we can amend the motion to reflect the truth and then vote that through,” she added. 

Andy Martin (Image: Daily Echo)

Christchurch Independent Andy Martin said Cllr Broadhead should “take this one on the chin”, telling the Conservatives: “It’s your party that made this mess.” 

He accused neither Labour or the Conservatives of telling the truth during the general election campaign about the past or future. 

Green councillor Joe Salmon added that “truth matters”, saying it is “like watching football fans get angry at the lines drawn by VAR when it tells a goal has been offside”.  

Independent councillor Stephen Bartlett told councillors the amendment adds “absolutely no value whatsoever to the intent of this motion”. 

He said: “It just shows as an example of why there should be no party politics in local government because this is the kind of rubbish you get as a result.” 

Christchurch Independent Margaret Phipps agreed with Cllr Bartlett, saying “you might as well add it wasn’t in the Labour party manifesto”. 

Phil Broadhead (Image: Daily Echo)

Cllr Broadhead said he had been “very careful not to be overtly political” in his motion – which received laughter from opposition councillors. 

He added: “We were very careful with putting this motion together. OK, it does say ‘Labour government’ but that’s more of a reality than anything else.” 

The Conservative leader added: “I was very careful in my opening speech as well to talk about the content of the motion and how we try not to politicise it. 

The amendment with the line about “Conservative recklessness” was passed by councillors – leading to the Conservatives voting against their own motion.