Caerphilly County Borough’s ruling party Plaid Cymru has criticised a move by a former Labour councillor to de-stabilise the authority.
Party members are dismayed to see ex-Labour councillor David Rees use the constitution of the council to personally attack council leader Lindsay Whittle through a motion of no confidence to the full council.
Councillor Allan Pritchard, Deputy Leader responsible for Constitutional Affairs, who said the group had given its full and unequivocal backing to Councillor Whittle, added: said: “I have worked closely with Lindsay for the past 15 years. I am astounded to discover that a councillor who was elected just three years ago as a member of the Labour party and has since defected to become an Independent member, has chosen to attack the forty year unblemished career in politics of Councillor Whittle on a whim.”
“Lindsay Whittle has led the council for the past two-and-a-half years, during this time the council under his stewardship has delivered high quality services, has surpassed all of the inspection reviews of services and delivered a balanced budget when other authorities are struggling to make ends meet.”
Councillor John Taylor, who has worked with Cllr Whittle for many years, said: “I know this will be a shock to councillors across all parties. Lindsay is sincere and genuine in his belief in working together to make Caerphilly County Borough a great place to live and work, I can’t understand why Councillor Rees has decided to take this unprecedented action and I hope his efforts are roundly rejected by the whole council.”
The constitution does allow for Cllr Rees to call for a vote of no confidence without putting his case until the meeting of the full council. It is believed that he is disgruntled at losing the democratic debate on the future of Ty Darren Home in Risca back in May.
Fellow Deputy Leader Colin Mann has also worked alongside Lindsay for many years serving their communities added: “The worrying element of this is, Dave Rees thinks it’s OK to play fast and loose with constitutional rules for personal gain.
“Councillor Rees obviously feels he must launch this personal attack to try to overturn the collective executive decision that was taken.”
