Loyalty oath demand for rebel councillors

Councillors Lorna Shiels, Chris Wigglesworth and Lawrence Marshall have been told they will not be allowed to return to the group unless they sign an official declaration vowing they will not defy the party whip again.

The move is aimed at ensuring that in future the dissident councillors will always toe the party line rather than vote according to their consciences. The demand - believed to be unprecedented - was added in an amendment by Southside’s Councillor Bob Cairns.

It has been condemned by the rebels’ supporters as "school bully" tactics.

The Evening News understands at least one of the rebels is considering refusing to the make the declaration.

A source close to the rebels said: "It gives them [the group leaders] more to throw at them in the future. Previously they were just expected to make a verbal agreement [to go with the whip], but now they will have their signatures."

Labour chiefs today refused to reveal the exact nature of the oath.

However, council leader Donald Anderson said the declaration would be based on the principle that: "We expect all Labour group members to support Labour group policy."

It comes on top of a two-month suspension given to the councillors earlier this week after they abstained from a crucial vote on whether to shut Lismore Primary in Bingham. Their decision to break the whip led to the ruling Labour administration suffering its first defeat in more than a decade.

It has also emerged that the failure to secure the closure of Lismore, which would have resulted in cost savings, threatens the future of the council’s forthcoming private finance deal to upgrade eight city schools.

Councillor Anderson declined to give further details of the rebels’ punishment. He said he was not aware of any previous occasion when councillors had been forced to make such a declaration.

"We’ve not really come across [a situation where three councillors have rebelled] before so this is new territory for us," he said.

"We have taken the decision to put the matter behind us, spoken to the individuals concerned and moved on."

But Councillor Wigglesworth has vowed he will not let the declaration stop him voting according to his conscience in the future. He said: "We have been asked to confirm our agreement to abide by the standing orders of the Labour group."

Cllr Wigglesworth added he had never seen a copy of the standing orders prior to his decision to abstain, but did not believe the demand to make the oath would be "a particular issue for him".

"It is a formality," he said. "I abstained on the basis of conscience because I didn’t agree with the proposals.

"I apologised because I had technically broken the standing orders by not letting the chief whip know in advance I was minded to abstain. But I said if a matter of conscience comes up again I would go with that."

Mike Bridgman, chairman of the Lismore Parents Action Group, said: "Moral integrity is sadly lacking for the majority of councillors within the Labour administration. These are the actions of a school bully or a spoiled brat who doesn’t get their own way."

Duddingston Conservative councillor Ian Berry, who supported the campaign to save the school, said:

"It is a sad day for the Labour Group that the few who did listen to the views of the vast majority [in Bingham] are being made to make this declaration.

Cllr Cairns was not available for comment on why he added the amendment.