Motions Galore

No less than 11 motions are on the agenda for the council meeting of 17th October. This is great for the Mayor. Councillors can pontificate to their (plural) hearts content without having any effect on what is happening in Newham. Councillors can bask in the belief that they are doing something whilst having no effect on anything.

We’ve also been pulled up on our use of pronouns and we try to make amends in this article.

We are not going to inflict all of the motions on our readers, but if they (plural) are so minded, they (the motions, plural) can be seen here.

Quite why some of them are there at all, other than to get a councillor’s name on the paperwork, is a mystery. But here is a brief synopsis:

Councillors Pushpa Makwana and Caroline Adaja lead off with Menopause in the Workplace. We assume that this is part of a national campaign to raise awareness.

In what looks to be another cut and paste motion councillors Rush and Zilickaja expended 849 words supporting the retention of voting rights for EU citizens in the UK, again this looks like a part of a national campaign.

Long time advocate for asylum seekers and new councillor, Rita Chadha, supported by Sabia Kamali call for Newham to become a ‘sanctuary city’ (borough) for asylum seekers. That’s working well in the USA! One minor hiccough that might cause rather less support for the well-intentioned motion is that not every ‘asylum seeker’ is fleeing ‘war and persecution’. The recent news about Albanians, is that they are largely young and male and apparently well connected with the criminal underworld (according to the Guardian,  the Independent, the Telegraph). This might cause a little less enthusiasm for the proposal amongst the general public than our political leaders.

Readers might be aware that the proposal for the MSG Sphere has not been met with universal approval in Stratford.

Nate Higgins for the Greens is apparently struggling to find a seconder for their (singular) motion on the MSG Sphere. Quite why they (singular), can’t get their (singular) ward and party colleague to co-sign is a mystery. Does the fact that they (plural) aren’t co-signing suggest some dissent in their (plural) ranks?

This is the first of two motions aimed at undermining proposals from Mayor Sadiq Khan. They, (singular), are in competition with councillors Paul and Kamali who have also submitted a motion on the MSG Sphere. They (plural) have a differently worded motion, but are essentially arguing toward the same end. We anticipate a composite emerging when Paul and Kamali will invite them, (singular) to merge the two motions.

The second subject of genuinely local impact is lodged by Labour members Dasgupta and Whitworth who have moved from critical opposition to the Silvertown Tunnel to critical acceptance.

We’ve got animal welfare, where the Green councillors have manged to combine to submit a motion. They (plural) are seeking to introduce quieter fireworks (yes please) and stop the use of animals as prizes in Newham. We’re not sure that this is happening anywhere, but of course could be wrong. Likewise, they (plural) want to ban the use of sky lanterns in Newham, probably a good thing but again we struggle to remember an incident where this has been a problem. But it sounds good so they can pat themselves (plural and singular) on the back.

In what seems to be the first of two motions from the GMB, we have a call to campaign to bring water back under public ownership. You can begin to tick off which councillors have joined the GMB by looking at who has signed what.

The Mayor and Cllr Vaughan have a motion on the monarchy, this may upset some of the republican comrades but is hardly unreasonable at this time in the nation’s history. However, we imagine that when asked to do the following, some of the anti-monarchist comrades will only do so through gritted teeth.

“On behalf of the people of Newham, this Council comes together and resolves to remember Her late Majesty with affection and appreciation; and pledge our support to her successor King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort. 

“Council further resolves to write to His Majesty The King’s Private Secretary to offer its sincere condolences on behalf of the London Borough of Newham, and wish His Majesty King Charles III a long and happy reign.”

Hear, hear.

We also have motions on the transgender community and a plaque at Canning Town Library that we will devote space to exclusively.