Kemi Badenoch has revealed she is keen to introduce tougher sanctions for bad behaviour by councillors, and that she and the secretary of state are “very much in favour” of allowing councils to hold remote meetings.
In a session of the Local Government Association conference, the local government minister also expressed concern that the government’s devolution agenda could be derailed if the the right calibre of local leaders do not step forwards.
The government rejected a recommendation from the Committee on Standards in Public Life on strengthening the local standards regimes, which would have enabled councils to apply sanctions to councillors found to have broken the Local Government Association’s model code of conduct.
In March Ms Badenoch said that “all councillors are ultimately held to account via the ballot box”.
However, today she told LGC: “We didn’t accept [the recommendation] as drafted by the committee, but it is something that we want to work on.”
When asked how she envisioned this working, Ms Badenoch responded: “That’s the problem – we don’t have the answer, because the way that sanctions could work as it was defined could either stifle political debate or stop people from raising things where they might be worried sanctions might be used against them.
“So there are multiple issues with the way that the [committee] recommendation is worded which meant that we couldn’t accept it. It’s something that we want to work on but not quite as [the committee’s recommendations] were worded.”
Ms Badenoch told delegates that “no matter how much we talk about codes and training and us speaking out, there will still be a core group of people for whom sanctions are the only thing that are going to work”.
She added that “most of the correspondence I get is councillor against councillor – especially at parish level.”
Ms Badenoch also expressed her concerns that this the issue could mire the government’s devolution agenda.
“It has an impact on us in central government…because we want to devolve more powers. But if the skills aren’t there and the right people aren’t there, it’s very hard to give powers to people who are being abusive or who aren’t interested in the work of a councillor but are doing it for personal reasons, whether that’s for the money or to tackle something that is not that deserving but more about themselves.”
Ms Badenoch said holding council meetings remotely “should help” because “enabling people to be seen [online] will help in reducing the inclination for bad behaviour”.
However, despite persistent lobbying from the sector to enshrine into law the right of councils to hold full council meetings remotely, the government has so far failed to act on the issue.
Ms Badenoch said: “I’m very much in favour of [councils holding remote meetings], the secretary of state is very much in favour of it. But it is unbelievably difficult – how something so small requires so many [MPs] to say yes to legislative time for it. It is not such a straightforward thing.”
Ms Badenoch told delegates she has been subject to racist comments on Facebook comparing the colour of her skin to sewage.
She said this deterioration of public discourse contributed her husband’s decision about standing for election again. Hamish Badenoch was a Conservative councillor on Merton LBC from 2014 to 2018.
“It’s depressing and is impacting on people deciding to take part in public life,” she said. “My husband was a councillor and I’m not sure he would do it again…in the period since he was elected, things have gotten so much worse.”
The LGA’s independent group lead Marianne Overton told delegates how LGA research shows “inconsistency between police forces” in how they deal with the issue of council representatives being facing intimidation.
“In some areas police seem to say ‘oh well, that’s politics’… We have councillors suffering mental health problems as a result which can impact on their families,” Cllr Overton said.
But Ms Badenoch, who is MP for Saffron Walden in Essex, cautioned against the over use of police in political situations.
After the murder of the Southend MP Sir David Amess earlier this year she had police “escorting” her “around Essex”.
“People start feeling resentful because it looks like we are seeking police resources to look after ourselves. We have to be very careful we don’t look as though we’re creating special rules for ourselves.”
Ms Badenoch urged councillors to improve discourse in council meetings by coming “out of your own tribe” to defend members of opposition parties when they are attacked. “That [sort of action] will go much further than more legislation.”
She told delegates to “raise the profile of councillors”, claiming “too many people don’t know what councillors do”.
“If we can enhance your reputation, it’s also great for me because 90% of what comes into my inbox is for you. The number of people who expect me to sort things out that have nothing to do with legislation and I tell them ‘go see your local councillor’. They say ‘what’s that?’ ‘Who is that?’ I think that’s terrible.”
