WHO watches the people in charge? That is what the row on council scrutiny boards is all about.
It is fine for new board members of the ruling Lib-Dem/Tory alliance to want to gain experience - but not if the price that is paid is people on scrutiny boards feeling they cannot open their mouths.
People already think, rightly or wrongly, that the council is run on a nod and a handshake rather than through local democracy. Anything that reinforces that suspicion should be resisted.
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