It has been the convention of the Council that the leader of the main opposition chairs the Audit committee. This is an important function of the council as this committee in effect checks and signs off the financial statements of the council. It offers some reassurance to the residents of Bolton that whilst there may be political differences the finances of the council are sound.
Last year the chair of the audit committee, Cllr Martyn Cox, determined that it was in the public interest, after discussions with all other opposition leaders, that the theft of nearly a million pounds of public money from the council ought to be shared with residents. For this reason, the Bolton Labour Group determined that a new chair of audit needed to be found.
A spokesperson for Bolton Conservatives said:
This decision by the Bolton Labour Party has become all to predictable, the theft from the most vulnerable people in our town of nearly a million pounds was an unprecedented act.
To fail to report even the basic facts of this theft to elected members, let alone the public, nor to allow elected members to determine whether the victims of this theft have been properly compensated and looked after adds to the growing impression, considering recent events, that the institutions of British government have become wedded to a culture of secrecy without parallel in the democratic world.
Open government and democratic scrutiny are vital to the functioning of the council. Elected members are there to serve the public, hey have a right to know when things go badly wrong and for people in positions of power and influence to be held accountable. Removing senior elected members from positions of vital scrutiny, when things go wrong sends wholly the wrong message to the public.
