Following the last full council meeting before the summer recess a letter appeared in the Southend Echo from Cllr Martin Terry leader of the 'Independent Party' on Southend Council.
In his letter Cllr Terry goes on his usual rant that a whip was applied to all Conservative councillor's on the night.
Cllr Terry get away with murder in the local press possibly because he is fodder for the local media and can be relied upon to be a rent a quote to fill their content.
I have been a councillor for nearly four years now and I have never had a whip applied to me. I have also been the councillor who has probably sided with opposition members the most out of all Conservative councillor's.
Further on Cllr Terry argues that party politics should be removed from local town hall's. If we were to accept Cllr Terry's point then I presume that Cllr Terry will hand back his leaders salary that he receives for being leader of the Independent Party and stop with immediate effect using council facilities to hold Group meetings.
I mean, how can you hold group meetings if you were elected as an Independent? With seven elected councillor's I feel that the media need to scrtinise the activities of 'Independent' councillors.
While they face so little scrutiny it enables councillor's like Mike Assenheim (Independent Party councillor for Shoeburyness Ward) to have four different opinions on the issue of East Beach for example.
The Independent Party have been rattled of late as they come under scrutiny. It is little reported that at least three of their members were Labour Party members within the last five years!
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