Hounslow Labour has been accused of “constitutional vandalism” by the Conservative opposition group as it prepares to introduce sweeping changes to council operations, including capping meeting run times and reducing the number of questions allowed at meetings. The changes come just weeks after Labour increased councillors’ allowances, leading the Tories to allege that Labour is ensuring councillors are given more pay for less work.
What are the proposed changes?
One of the main changes will force all council meetings to conclude at 11pm, with no provision for extension beyond that time, except for the budget meeting. This follows an August planning committee meeting considering changes to events at Gunnersbury Park, which ran until 11:45pm, and the last full council meeting lasting almost five hours and concluding just before midnight.
Cllr Jack Emsley, Leader of the Hounslow Conservatives, expressed concern that “in an era of five party politics, there are many voices that are keen to have a say on council policy.” In May, voters returned members from five different parties at the elections, compared to two parties in 2022.
Cllr Shantanu Rajawat, Leader of the Council, defended the changes, stating: "Borough Council meetings are already subject to a guillotine. During meetings, it is always the Labour Group who propose to suspend standing orders and allow the meeting to continue. All this change does is to ensure that meetings remain focused and to the point. More scrutiny. Less grandstanding. Who knows, perhaps the Conservatives might benefit from being less long-winded?"
Changes to questioning and motions
Another change affects how parties can question the governing Labour administration. Under new meeting rules, two questions would be reserved for the largest political group and one for each of the other political groups. This means that despite having 17 seats, the Tories are afforded the same amount of questioning time as the Liberal Democrats, who have one seat. Labour would have double the amount of questions as the Tories, without double the number of councillors.
The Labour Group is also preparing changes to how motions are debated and chosen ahead of council meetings. Just 18 months ago, the Labour administration decided that motions chosen for debate should be decided proportionally based on how many councillors a party has. This has now been scrapped, months after Labour’s proportion of councillors plummeted. Instead, motions will be taken on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Cllr Emsley said he is concerned that the changes “create an incentive for opposition parties to rush in motion drafts well ahead of future meetings to ‘secure their spot’, leading to less relevant motions overall.”
Tories slam the proposals
The Hounslow Conservatives claim that the changes are being rushed through without the usual cross-party consultation, which they say is troubling given Labour's slim majority. Cllr Rajawat pushed back against this claim, telling the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "All changes to the constitution – even relatively minor ones – are scrutinised by the Audit and Governance Committee and will be debated at Borough Council. Leaders of all political groups were invited to a meeting discussing the changes two weeks ago, which Cllr Emsley attended."
Cllr Parinoor Kaur, a Conservative member of the council’s Audit Committee, said: “The last borough council meeting was a prime example of what local democracy should look like. Yes it ran on late, but councillors were able to properly debate issues, scrutinise decisions, challenge one another constructively and, most importantly, speak up for the residents who elected us. Under Labour’s plans, council business will have an arbitrary cut off point, and reduces the opportunity for councillors to ask questions and scrutinise policy. After voting to increase their allowances, they’re now proposing to shorten the amount of time they spend working. We were elected to serve residents. These plans will further damage trust in Labour-run Hounslow Council, and we will be fighting against them at every opportunity.”
'These are minor changes' - Council Leader
Responding to the Conservatives' comments, Cllr Rajawat said: “These very minor changes to the rules of debate apply to just one type of council meeting. They do not warrant a full Constitutional Review and will instead be scrutinised by the Audit and Governance Committee. Previous attempts to work with the Conservatives have been conducted in bad faith on their part. This resulted in the last meeting running on for nearly five hours as Conservative Councillors read out an endless barrage of pre-written speeches. The Conservatives aren’t interested in scrutiny or debate. They want to posture and grandstand. If they think that is what being a Councillor is all about, then they are in it for the wrong reasons.”
The changes will be debated by the Audit and Governance Committee at 6pm on Tuesday, September 8.
