Official: Lib Dems are hardest working Lewisham councillors

9.00.00pm GMT Thu 26th Nov 2009

The Lib Dem group led by Cllr Chris Maines has been working the hardest to hold the Mayor to account

A Council question from Conservative group leader David Britton has revealed that his group are Lewisham's laziest councillors and that Liberal Democrat councillors challenge the directly-elected Mayor the most.

In answer to a question by Cllr Britton, figures show that 235 questions have been asked at the four full council meetings held this year and that Conservative councillors only asked two of them. Further analysis shows that the average number of questions asked by each Liberal Democrat councillor is over 8.5. Labour councillors, despite being the largest group on the Council, could only manage a poor third place, behind the Green Party.

Lewisham Council has a directly-elected Mayor who makes all the executive decisions. The Mayor is held to account at meetings of the full Council held every six weeks. The role of councillors is to scrutinise and question the Mayor on behalf of their local residents and the Council's service users.

Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Chris Maines says, "The role of councillors in Lewisham is different from other areas. Our role is to quiz the Mayor and challenge him on the issues of the day and those that concern local residents. The Tory councillors in Lewisham simply don't get it. They fail to turn up to many meetings and do not bother to ask questions."