Councillor Jeff Green moved and Councillor Wendy Clements seconded the following Motion submitted in accordance with Standing Order 7(1)

“Council reaffirms its adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism IN FULL and without AMENDMENT, as agreed in October 2017.

Furthermore, Council believes that there is no place in Wirral’s politics for anti-Semitism and believes that any Member, when acting in their role as a Member of the Council, found to have made anti-Semitic remarks should be referred to the Council’s Standards Committee, as well as any internal processes undertaken by their respective party”.

Amendment

Councillor Phil Gilchrist moved and Councillor Allan Brame seconded the following amendment submitted in accordance with Standing Order 12(9) such that the Motion be approved subject to the insertion after the second paragraph of the Motion –

“Council is aware that the January 2019 report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life entitled ‘Local Government Ethical Standards’ was placed before the Standards and Constitutional Oversight Committee on 26 February. The report

http://democracy.wirral.gov.uk/documents/s50055485/Local_Government_Ethical_Standards__Web_.pdf

provides advice on the current interpretation of the circumstances within which any Member acts in their capacity as a Councillor and makes a recommendation that Section 27 (2) of the Localism Act 2011 should be amended to permit local authorities to presume councillors to be acting in an official capacity in their public conduct, including statements on publicly-accessible social media, when deciding upon code of conduct breaches.

Council is also aware that the Standards and Constitutional Oversight Committee only recently adopted a revised procedure for dealing with complaints against Members set out in the document ‘Protocol – Arrangements for investigating and making decisions in relation to allegations made under the Members’ Code of Conduct’ and believes that any complaints made to the Monitoring Officer about Members’ conduct should be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Localism Act 2011 and the protocol”.

Following a debate, the amendment to the Motion was accepted by Councillor Jeff Green as mover of the Motion with the agreement of Council being given by general assent.

In accordance with Standing Order 12, a number of Members rose to request a ‘card vote’.

A recorded vote was then taken on the substantive Motion and the Council divided as follows:

For the motion (62): Councillors R Abbey, T Anderson, B Berry, J Bird, C Blakeley, A Brame, P Brightmore, D Burgess-Joyce, K Cannon, C Carubia, W Clements, T Cottier, T Cox, A Davies, G Davies, P Davies, P Doughty, D Elderton, G Ellis, S Foulkes, S Frost, A Gardner, P Gilchrist, J Green, E Grey, P Hackett, P Hayes, A Hodson, K Hodson, AER Jones, C Jones, S Jones, T Jones, M Jordan, S Kelly, B Kenny, A Leech, I Lewis, M McLaughlin, J McManus, C Meaden, D Mitchell, B Mooney, C Muspratt, T Norbury, C Povall, L Rennie, J Robinson, L Rowlands, PA (Tony) Smith, C Spriggs, J Stapleton, P Stuart, A Sykes, T Usher, J Walsh, S Whittingham, I Williams, KJ Williams, S Williams, J Williamson and The Mayor.

Against the motion (0)

Abstentions (1): Councillor Pat Cleary.

It was therefore –

Resolved (62:0) (One abstention) – That

Council reaffirms its adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism IN FULL and without AMENDMENT, as agreed in October 2017.

Furthermore, Council believes that there is no place in Wirral’s politics for anti-Semitism and believes that any Member, when acting in their role as a Member of the Council, found to have made anti-Semitic remarks should be referred to the Council’s Standards Committee, as well as any internal processes undertaken by their respective party.

Council is aware that the January 2019 report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life entitled ‘Local Government Ethical Standards’ was placed before the Standards and Constitutional Oversight Committee on 26 February. The report

http://democracy.wirral.gov.uk/documents/s50055485/Local_Government_Ethical_Standards__Web_.pdf

provides advice on the current interpretation of the circumstances within which any Member acts in their capacity as a Councillor and makes a recommendation that Section 27 (2) of the Localism Act 2011 should be amended to permit local authorities to presume councillors to be acting in an official capacity in their public conduct, including statements on publicly-accessible social media, when deciding upon code of conduct breaches.

Council is also aware that the Standards and Constitutional Oversight Committee only recently adopted a revised procedure for dealing with complaints against Members set out in the document ‘Protocol – Arrangements for investigating and making decisions in relation to allegations made under the Members’ Code of Conduct’ and believes that any complaints made to the Monitoring Officer about Members’ conduct should be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Localism Act 2011 and the protocol.