DISSENT, DISORDER, DIVISION
Uproar As Mayor Terminates Council Meeting
PAUL McLAUGHLIN AND HUGH SULLIVAN
The last full meeting of Hastings Borough Council before May’s local elections was suspended and then abandoned last Wednesday (20 March) amid chaotic scenes in the council chamber. The Mayor, Cllr Margi O’Callaghan, sitting as chair, suspended proceedings within a minute of their start as a member of the public, Gabriel Carlyle, flanked by a number of campaign supporters, got to his feet and called on the Council to discuss a motion in support of a ceasefire in Gaza.
When the Mayor told him this subject was not on the agenda and would not be discussed, he continued to talk over her, while three fellow campaigners stood up raising placards bearing the slogan “Don’t Stand By”. The Mayor made it clear that she was unmoved and she, together with a number of Labour and Conservative councillors, filed out of the chamber.
The Mayor has said that the members of public involved were then asked to leave, though they deny that any such request was made. On the other hand, some Hastings Independents councillors encouraged the campaigners to stay, as there was on the agenda of the meeting a motion to amend the council constitution, tabled by one of their number, Cllr Ali Roark, that might have allowed a debate on Gaza to take place in due course (see Motion for Gaza ceasefire on page 3).
At this point the police were called, and eventually arrived some 20 minutes later, though the purpose of their intervention has not been explained.
The Mayor consulted in the meantime with the Council’s Chief Executive Jane Hartnell and Chief Legal Officer Mary Kilner, and at around 6.40pm announced that the meeting was abandoned.
Because of the ‘purdah’ rules governing conduct of local government in the run-up to local elections, no further meeting of the council will take place until late May or even June.
The Mayor has defended her decision to suspend the meeting on the basis that whilst she “welcomed and actively encouraged members of the public to come along to meetings and to ask questions, it was not right for them to disturb proceedings and to shout at and over councillors meeting in session”.
The further decision to abandon the meeting was taken, she said, only when it became apparent to her that the “protesters” had failed to leave and, in these circumstances, she was left with no option but to adjourn the proceedings. She recalled that in January, when there had been a similar protest over the council’s refusal to consider twinning Hastings with Al-Mawasi in Gaza, the protesters left the chamber immediately. On this occasion, however, they were encouraged to stay by Independent councillor Andy Batsford, but she was not prepared to continue the sitting “with no order”.
RADIO INTERVIEW
When interviewed the following day on Radio Sussex, the Mayor gave a fuller account. She declared that her role was a “non-political position” (notwithstanding that, in previous ballots since her appointment as Mayor last May, she has on more than one occasion exercised her casting vote – in effect voted twice – to ensure a majority for a Labour motion): her job was to “make sure the meeting runs smoothly in line with the constitution and the law – but not only that, to make sure that councillors feel safe and settled and happy.’’ She complained that councillors out canvassing for the forthcoming election have been targeted on the doorstep and shouted at. “It’s maybe the same group”, she told the interviewer Danny Pike. “I don’t want to make that accusation, but they’re people with similar mindsets. I put health and safety first, and the constitution”.
She went on to say that she had spoken to Ms Hartnell to ask if there was “anything urgent on the agenda” and was told “nothing that can’t wait”. Some councillors, she said, “were very stressed and shaken”, and “it had got very late” (though recent full council meetings have often lasted two or three hours).
Katy Colley, chair of the Hastings & District Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who was interviewed on the radio show at the same time, gave a radically different version of the evening’s events. “There was one person speaking politely… and a few people who held up signboards”, she said. “Everybody was happy to start the meeting again, but the legal officer – who’s not an elected representative – advised it didn’t go ahead. I don’t understand why important business of the council was not discussed…Democracy was suspended last night and nobody knows why. Concerned people were there to hear councillors talk about what they really care about, and they didn’t get to hear it.”
Another campaigner, Old Town resident Jane Carey, was in the public gallery.” She says she was not asked to leave at any point. “There was absolutely no intimidation”, she maintains.
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