This breathtaking arrogance will be paid for at next year's elections (From Falmouth Packet)

This breathtaking arrogance will be paid for at next year's elections

2:28pm Thursday 6th September 2012 in Skipper

Sometimes the decisions taken by the leadership at Cornwall Council really do leaves me speechless, and never more so than last week.

Mistakenly labouring under the misapprehension that we are living in a democracy, I believed that when councillors voted against proceeding with the ruling elite’s plans to privatise the majority of the authority’s services, the process would be halted, or at least paused.

However, within a day, the council’s ruling cabinet had announced it was pushing ahead regardless with the plan.

Now, let’s stop and look at exactly what that means in detail.

Back in 2009, WE voted in 123 councillors to represent US on Cornwall Council.

Yes, that’s right, these 123 councillors are the elected representatives of the people of Cornwall.

Last Tuesday, a majority of our representatives (or at least a majority of those who could be bothered to turn up) voted against the privatisation plan.

However, the twelve councillors who make up the cabinet committee have decided they will ignore that decision, and carry on with their plans regardless.

Their reasoning behind the decision was twofold – with both excuses so out of touch with public thinking it is simply frightening.

Firstly, they said that they had already considered the points raised during the debate, and had already decided they were not worth stopping the privatisation process for.

Do these people not understand democracy? Just because you think it is a good idea, if the majority vote against it, it does not happen. It should be simple, but clearly not for those in the ruling elite at New County Hall.

Secondly, they said if they could have held the debate behind closed doors they would have been able to persuade fellow councillors to support the plans.

Hang on, this is the biggest decision taken since the council was created – but the cabinet think it would be better for us all if the public were not allowed to know exactly what is going on.

It is simply incredible. These people are acting with breathtaking arrogance, and with a ‘we know better than you’ attitude that is not befitting of anyone in public office.

Sadly, there may not be anything people can do to stop them from pushing through their plans, despite the clear opposition of the rest of the council.

However, come May next year and the elections, there will be a heavy price to pay for treating the people of Cornwall with such incredible disdain.