'Mugabe' jibe at council leader

By Ben Wilkinson

A FORMER leader of Harlow Council has accused his successor of behaving "like Robert Mugabe", after Labour was left with just one member on each council committee.

Tony Durcan, who resigned as leader of the Labour group before his party was trounced at last month's local elections, compared new Tory council chief Andrew Johnson to the tyrannical Zimbabwean president, over claims the size of committees had been fixed.

At last night's council meeting (Tuesday June 17) it was revealed the number of councillors on each committee - eight or nine on most - will be slightly less than in the last municipal year.

With the make-up of the committees reflecting the political make-up of the council, this gives Labour one seat on each.

Mr Durcan complained: "They could have made the committees larger, giving us two seats on each. By fixing the committees so we only have one member, they have ensured Labour will be unable to propose any amendments for debate, because there will be nobody to second them.

"It's a deliberate attempt to silence the voice of Labour in this town, stifle opposition and disenfranchise our supporters. It feels a bit like Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe."

But Mr Johnson said that, to achieve an accurate political balance, committees could only be increased to 17 members or more to give Labour a bigger representation.

"Labour are entitled to an 18 per cent proportion of councillors," he told the Star. "There are only six of them now so it's quite difficult.

"If they want a bigger representation, they could always try getting more people to vote for them."