Skidder Newsflash - 19 Sandwell Councillors Skip Budget Meeting!

An astonishing 19 - yes, nineteen - Sandwell Councillors missed the all important full Council meeting last Tuesday which set Labour's horrendous budget for April Fool's Day onwards. This is the most important full Council meeting of the year. As there is a vacancy at the moment, Sandwell already has an absurd 71 councillors and so 27% of this bunch were absent! 

Despite the supposed retreat of Covid no less than 3 of the 19 cited Covid as the reason for absence but given the very high number of absentees one has to ask two questions - particularly as a large number of the 19 failed to provide you, dear readers, with the reason for skiving off (following an email to them from The Skidder). But we shall see below that at least one Councillor has fessed-up to being absent due to non-payment of Council Tax!

There are the Councillors who claim their allowances yet failed to attend this crucial meeting:

* = See below; C = Claims ill with Covid; P = States has paid Council Tax; U = unpaid Council Tax

R = Refuses to Provide Reason for Absence

Samiya Akhtar   R

Wasim Ali   P C

Ahmad Bostan   R

Yvonne Davies    C (pays Council Tax in Herefordshire where she lives)

Elaine Giles   R

Gurdesh Gill   R

Manjit Gill   R

Joanne Hadley   P [Addendum - Cllr Hadley has been in touch. She has paid her Council Tax and missed the meeting due to a veterinary emergency]

Emma Henlan   R

Mohammed Yassen Hussain "Billa"   R

Laured Kalari   U

Syeda Khatun   R

Thabiso Mabena   R

Danny Millard   P *

Sue Phillips   R

Kirat Singh   R

Satpal Singh   R

Vicki Smith   C P

Mohinder Tagger  *

*   Danny Millard - a Cabinet member no less - says he was "unable to attend" the all-important Budget-setting meeting but does bother to elaborate any further. 

*   I did not bother to contact Tagger as he is on long-term sick leave leaving West Bromwich Central without his dubious talents for a very long time whilst still raking in his allowances (more on him anon).

You will see that many Councillors failed to respond to me at all and this raises two possible scenarios (aside from the obvious possibility that they are just idle gits).

Scenario 1 - that Labour absentees were disgusted with Kerrie "Dim Kez" Carmichael's horrendous 4.99% council tax hike (plus a raft of increased charges for various services). The Haranguing Hamster has shafted the people of Sadders right up the derriere at a time when Labour's multiple failings are being investigated by the Government. Rhi Storer, the Local Democracy reporter who replaced the troll George Makin, pointed out before the meeting that Liverpool Labour suspended 6 of their group who opposed their budget. Were some of the Labour sheep too ashamed of Dim Kez's gigantic raid on the pockets of hard-pressed local folk they simply didn't have the bottle to turn up and object to it? 

Scenario 2 - Councillors who have not paid their Council Tax are not allowed to vote on the Budget. Labour leaked that Cllr Kalari is one such but at least he has had the b*lls to admit it (shocking though this is). Thirteen Councillors have, as shown above, failed to say whether they were in arrears and why they were absent. Looks like a Freedom of Information Request will be required to establish the truth because these cowards can't be arsed to tell voters what the position is!

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

**** Phone No: 07470 624207 ****

Email: thesandwellskidder@gmail.com

Facebook: Julian Saunders  

Facebook Group: The Sandwell Skidder - Speaking Truth To Power!

Twitter: Publisher: @CrowMultimedia; Julian Saunders: @SandwellSkidder            

Post:  Jules Saunders, 11 Chelworth Road, Birmingham B38 0BG

PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TROLLED BY DICKHEAD DARREN COOPER DECEASED!

LEGAL NOTICE (Version 3 from 14th February, 2021)

I cannot list every previous mention of individuals referred to in the entirety of this blog. Where I refer to a specific story please follow the supplied hyperlink since this forms legal justification for later comments. Similarly references to “posts passim” and to earlier posts mean any individuals concerned about purported defamatory or otherwise unlawful material must read later posts in the context of earlier posts. Full information can also be supplied within a reasonable time upon application via email to thesandwellskidder@gmail.com

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

Every now and again we make a genuine honest error and get something wrong. If an error in the blog affects you please email thesandwellskidder@gmail.com and we shall use our best endeavours to publish appropriate corrections forthwith.

We have had to remove the direct comment facility from this blog due to the activity of a West Bromwich woman but we are pleased to receive comments via email to thesandwellskidder@gmail.com , on Twitter via our publishers @CrowMultimedia or via our dedicated Facebook Group: “The Sandwell Skidder - Speaking Truth to Power!” We are happy to publish any sensible commentary and offer a right of reply where applicable.

If you consider that anything written is defamatory or otherwise unlawful please email thesandwellskidder@gmail.com or telephone 07470 624207 forthwith. If your complaint has merit we shall endeavour to make immediate amends.