Democracy

I attended the first meeting of the Council for 2008 on Wednesday night. At what turned out to be a stormy meeting the leader of the official opposition Councillor Peter Franzen was eventually expelled from the Chamber by the mayor after being correctly warned on several occasions about his behaviour. At one time he even shouted at the mayor that he ( the mayor) was a disgrace.

Now this is nothing new for Councillor Franzen. He will no doubt be bleating somewhere about the undemocratic process of the Council and the Labour Party and how it stifles his right to speak. My answer to that is simple - the Councillors present at the meeting of all parties voted to expel him - (I even think that some of his own party would have voted in the same way)It should be remembered that these Councillors were elected by the people of Wigan to do their best to represent them. I think had many of the electors witnessed Councillor Franzen's behaviour on Wednesday night they would have been appalled.

Councillor Franzen also tabled a motion regarding congestion charging in Greater Manchester which would have created an interesting discussion to say the least. But because of his expulsion the motion was not discussed because as mover of the motion he was not in the chamber to introduce it. If I had been an opponent of congestion charging I would have been furious at this because I was being denied the right to speak against it through Councillor Franzen's behaviour.

So if you read anywhere Councillor Franzen accusing Wigan Council and Labour Councillors denying him his democratic right to speak take no notice. There is only one person who denied him that right - himself.