A Labour council cabinet member has been accused of “making a mockery of local democracy” after she was caught knitting during a committee appearance where she was meant to be defending their decision to make cuts of £11m to services in Monmouthshire.
Commenting, Welsh Conservative Shadow Local Government Minister Sam Rowlands MS said:
“This behaviour is quite insulting and makes a mockery of local democracy. It is rather shocking to see such a flippant attitude by Labour when they’re supposed to be defending their £11m worth of cuts despite a better than expected financial settlement.
“Residents expect their councillors – specially the ones running the local authority – to be paying attention in meetings where the very fabric of public service delivery in the area is under question.
“The incident also clearly supports the hesitations I have already spoken about regarding an overreliance on hybrid meetings, with councillors using it to evade their responsibilities, while missing out on building new relationships, skills, and experiences.
“Let’s see Labour needle their way out of this one.”
This follows reports of a member of the public carrying out what appeared to be a sex act on Zoom during a meeting of Flintshire Council’s cabinet earlier this month.