Rotten Boroughs - Leeds City Council

79 year old pensioner, Maurice Scott, was a voluntary director of one of Leeds City Council's housing management teams who got really incensed when he received documents saying that three of the Councils senior executives - including the Chief Executive who earns £88,000 a year - were to be given pay increase while the rest of the staff were suffering a pay freeze!

Mr Scott sent the documents with a complaint to the leader of Labour-controlled Leeds City Council Keith Wakefield, and Chief Whip Cllr Peter Gruen. Gruen promptly forwarded it on to the management team concerned, NWN Homes.

Next thing he knew, we was to appear before them to explain alledged 'breach of confidence'. He refused to attend as he felt he had done nothing wrong. Following the meeting, he received the letter saying he is to be removed from office for breaching the Board of Directors’ Code of Conduct “by conveying confidential information to people outside this organisation.”

The decision will be ratified at the next board meeting which he has been invited to attend. Mr Scott commented :

"I am very upset. All I was doing was standing up for people’s right to know. I was standing up for the rights of working people. This is public money. I will go to the meeting because I have done nothing wrong and that is what I will tell them."

The Chair of NWN Homes' Standards Committee, Cllr Alson Lowe, simply commented "This is an internal matter."

Not any more it isn't...

(You can read more on this in the Yorkshire Evening Post)