EDM 691 – 24 November 2021

CONDUCT OF COUNCILLORS TOWARDS TOWN AND PARISH COUNCIL CLERKS

[This EDM was supported by 13 MPs.]

That this House notes with deep concern convincing evidence collected by the Association of Local Council Clerks showing that, far from being untypical, the toxic behaviour by Parish Councillors in Cheshire exposed online in December 2020, is endemic in a significant minority of Town and Parish Councils; deplores the departure from their roles of dozens of part-time and full-time Clerks, as a result of bullying by Councillors who face negligible sanctions for such misbehaviour; regrets the anguish thus generated and the substantial cost to the public purse arising from settlements following breakdown in employer and employee relations; and calls on the Government to establish an appropriate and effective sanctions mechanism, including financial penalties, to deal with local Councillors found guilty of such misconduct.

EDM 338 – 19 July 2021

MOUNTBATTEN DIARIES

[This EDM was tabled jointly with Sammy Wilson, Sir John Redwood, John Nicolson, Sarah Olney and Valerie Vaz. It was eventually supported by 26 MPs. Most of the withheld Diaries began to be published online three days after this EDM appeared.]

That this House notes with concern that the personal diaries of Lord and Lady Mountbatten were purchased from the family's Broadlands Archive Trust, a decade ago, by Southampton University with a substantial sum of public money including almost £2 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund; that, until the sale to the University, the Mountbatten family had made the diaries available to historians upon request; that Lady Mountbatten was never a public servant and consequently her writings are not subject to Freedom of Information restrictions; that in December 2019 the Information Commissioner's Office ordered the University to disclose the Mountbatten diaries and correspondence; that this continues to be resisted at the apparent direction of the Cabinet Office, citing FOI exemptions but refusing to identify the criteria relevant to the Mountbatten diaries; that it is 42 years since the death of Lord Mountbatten and 61 years since that of Lady Mountbatten; that it is deeply regrettable that their distinguished biographer, Dr Andrew Lownie, has so far had to pay £250,000 pursuing a campaign for the diaries' release to historians; and accordingly calls for their disclosure for publication without further obfuscation and delay.