Friday 26 October 2007

Credit Where Credit is Due

In July, Liverpool's Green councillor John Coyne put a motion to the city council calling for ethical pensions on Merseyside http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/tm_method=full&objectid=19470807&siteid=50061-name_page.html. At the time, this was voted down procedurally, and therefore no change took place.

Three months later, and after some no doubt uncomfortable realisation by the Liberal Democrat administration that they had dropped a bit of a clanger here, the motion was brought back. Credit is due to the Richard Oglethorpe in asking John Coyne to jointly sign it, and as a result we had a unanimously agreed motion in the council chamber.

This is the answer to a frequently asked question for Greens:
"What difference can one councillor make?"

I also think a large bit of credit goes to Merseyside Stop the War Coalition, who have run a campaign on this for some time and backed the original motion. Electing Greens means new thinking and a willingness to challenge the status quo.

I think it is a shame that the media three months on has ignored John's role in this, but local people know who to thank for putting the original motion, and I'd like to personally congratulate John on a significant success for ethical politics in Liverpool.

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