Councillor Mark Morris said: "The current large majority of Labour councillors on Lewisham Council has led to a culture where a specific group of Labour councillors think their attendance at Lewisham Council meetings does not matter.

"Over the last few years a number of councillors have had an appalling attendance at key meetings. Their contribution in scrutinising Lewisham's Mayor or speaking up for their constituents has been minimal. One Labour councillor even moved to Scotland, but only felt it necessary to resign after failing his constituents for 18 months.

"All councillors receive a minimum £9,000 in allowances and many Labour councillors receive significantly more. Councillors that are not a member of the Cabinet have a basic duty to ensure that Lewisham's powerful Executive Mayor is held to account. Many Labour councillors simply can't be bothered to effectively take part in this process and this is shameful.

"Although turning up for the meetings is not the only measurement of the performance of councillors it is hard to understand how councillors that repeatedly miss key meetings are playing any effective role on behalf of their constituents or ensuring that bad decisions are not made by Lewisham's Mayor."

30th January 2006

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