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Councillors vote down motion to do away with catering at meetings
02/11/2022
“Why should the public pay for us to have a nose bag of muesli sandwiches”
A motion to do away with tax-payer funded catering at Oxfordshire County Council meetings failed to gain the enough support from Councillors.
The proposal was presented by Banbury Councillor Eddie Reeves, who leads the Conservative Opposition group at the Council.
Councillor Reeves said that given the scale of the cost-of-living crisis the Council should look at cancelling catering for meetings of the Full Council and at civic functions, unless it was considered essential.
Councillor Reeves said: “We don’t need to be fed. We receive £1000 a month gross to do our jobs here as backbench Members and executive members receive rather more.
“We should re-prioritise catering unless it is strictly essential for the purposes of a civic event, to the needy, particularly given that we have time and time again heard ad nauseam about the cost of living crisis, which is, I concede, deeply affecting residents across this county.”
But Councillor Glynis Phillips, who’s the Labour Cabinet Member for Corporate Services believed the Conservative Group were simply trying to find another way to overturn a recent food policy decision by the ruling alliance.
She said: “I applaud the ingenuity of the party opposite to continue to find ways to prevent vegan meals being served at council meetings and civic events. Your group meetings must be a hive of creativity as you try and find different ways to discover these initiatives.”
Banbury Councillor Kieron Mallon supported the motion. He alluded to the fact many of his fellow Conservative Councillors had paid for their own lunches at a local Weatherspoons public house.
Councillor Mallon said: “Why should the public pay for us to have a nose bag of muesli sandwiches and vastly expensive imported fruit from all around the globe in that little room next door. They shouldn’t.
“It’s a lunch that many members choose not to take, but according to the administration you have still got to have it there on statute, just in case I decided that I did want some museli.”
Liberal Leader of the Councillor Liz Leffman felt that it was important to support local businesses as well as individuals.
She said: “I’m not sure whether you’ve actually done the sums on this. We’re talking about £6,000 a year. In the scheme of things, given that we have actually brought £2 million forward to sort people in this county through the cost-of-living crisis, I’m afraid you really are not coming forward with anything very constructive here.
“And by the way, it’s not just individuals who are suffering during the cost-of-living crisis, it’s businesses as well. We are buying this food from a local business in Kidlington who source their fruit and veg from a shop and delicatessen in Woodstock. Are you seriously suggesting that we should, for the sake of appearances, take away a contract from a small business in our area and somehow donate £6,000 to support residents of this county when we are doing a great deal ourselves already to support them with the £2 million we have already put into that budget.
“Well I’m sorry, businesses need to survive in this county as well as individuals.”
The motion was lost 17-37 in a vote.
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam