At today’s Full Council meeting, members supported two
motions. The first (cross-party) motion was to write to the Government,
requesting that they do not close the “only remaining Remploy factory in the
South West, situated just outside Penzance at Long Rock which is vital for the local economy and
which provides invaluable opportunities for training, qualifications and entry
into sustainable employment for those who are most in need.” This was supported
unanimously.
The second proposal put forward by the Liberal Democrats
opposing regional pay. It called for fair pay for Cornwall and proposed writing
to the Prime Minister, the Chancellor, Cornwall’s MPs and pay review bodies
setting out the Council's "opposition to a regionalised pay structure and the
severe effect this change will have on the economy of Cornwall therefore
calling on the Government to abandon the proposal.”
I noted that the Liberal Democrats were discomforted by the
fact that some of their own MPs, such as Danny Alexander, had spoken in support of
regional pay. I spoke in favour of the motion and asked that opposition to the
regionalisation of benefits be incorporated into the motion. This was agreed
and it was also agreed that the Council also copy the representation to Nick
Clegg and Danny Alexander.
The second motion was passed near-unanimously. There were
three Tory abstentions.
At Members’ Questions, I asked the Leader of the Council if
spending over £3 million on the option for a haul road (of one and a bit miles
through clayworks) to the proposed incinerator at St Dennis was good value. I pointed out
that for £3 million, the Highways Agency had purchased 7 miles of farmland for a dual
carriageway and associated junctions, etc, for the dualling of the A30 between Indian Queens and Bodmin.
No comments:
Post a Comment