convening power

The Financial Times Calls The City Of London Council Undemocratic: This Local Authority Will Remain That Way Until Westminster Passes Legislation To Abolish Its Business Vote

The City operates an idiosyncratic system of “corporate democracy”. At best it is flawed, at worst a recipe for abuse. A connected problem is the scant choice of candidates. For every councillor position, there are just 1.3 candidates on average, radically fewer than in London’s 32 local boroughs. The aldermanic voting system is particularly open to manipulation. An old acquaintance and former Lord Mayor once told me that one explanation for the City’s sometimes reactionary instincts is a “shadow hanging over the whole structure” of the corporation’s supposedly democratic governance, Freemasonry. Close to a third of councillors are declared masons, including the chairs of nearly all the major committees. Three-quarters of Lord Mayors over the past century have been masons.

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City of London Council Leaders Propose That They Be Paid (A Lot) More – While Their Social Housing Tenants Shiver In Poorly Insulted Homes & Face A Rent Hike

Over the last few years, the leaders of the City of London council have quietly been preparing the way for a proposal that has now emerged – that they be paid substantial “special responsibility allowances” on top of their existing substantial perks and privileges. These same leaders have refused to spend a single penny of the council’s “City’s Estate” fund (formerly called “City’s Cash”) – out of which their “special responsibility allowances” will be paid – on accelerating the renovation of the council’s relatively small housing estates, which have fallen into disrepair due to decades of neglect, which is in turn due to decades of poor leadership. So City tenants shiver in winter because window replacements that have been overdue for decades remain on the council’s “to do” list, while the payment of “special responsibility allowances” to the leaders are to be implemented “as quickly as possible” in the 2024-25 financial year.

Read more "City of London Council Leaders Propose That They Be Paid (A Lot) More – While Their Social Housing Tenants Shiver In Poorly Insulted Homes & Face A Rent Hike"