Demands to make it easier to prosecute local politicians who abuse their power have been been ignored by government lawyers, a leading councillor has claimed - describing the move as ‘utterly disgraceful’.
But Cllr Liam Preece has said he is not going to be put off by the Crown Prosecution Service’s response and promised his committee would continue to lobby for stronger action against councillors accused of corruption and wrongdoing.
The chair of Sandwell Council’s Audit and Risk Assurance Committee was speaking after receiving a reply to a letter calling on the Home Secretary and the Director of Public Prosecutions to make it easier to take legal action against council members.
The letter, sent in February, called for tougher powers to discipline councillors and came after a series of investigations into alleged wrongdoing were not pursued by police because there was insufficient evidence to record a crime.
In the letter, Cllr Preece wrote: "The audit and risk assurance committee of course accepted the decision of the police, but were ultimately concerned there is an extremely high threshold for consideration of misconduct in public office offences which in turn could lead to a lack of public confidence in the process.”
Nine months later, he told this week’s full council meeting, he had finally received a reply.
“A few days ago I received a letter from the Crown Prosecution Service on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions which was, essentially, dire.
“The response was a ‘copy and paste’ to a general enquiry explaining to me that the police and CPS are two different institutions and I should look it up more often, but not quite as blunt as that.”
But he added the council would not be put off calling for more powers to prosecute wrongdoing by councillors.
“I will be taking that reply back to the committee at its next meeting and seeking advice from members on what we should do next but my feeling as chair is we shouldn’t let it lie there, we should press home our point because, frankly, the response was utterly disgraceful.”
The Audit and Risk Assurance Committee is next set to meet on November 1.
