Is he serious?

May 1 2009

IN reply to Councillor Cook’s letter (Kilmarnock Standard, April 24), it would be accurate to say that the people of Kilmarnock and Loudoun and Cumnock and Doon Valley (now East Ayrshire) are well aware of his party’s position on ‘hard pressed households’ now and in the past.

That knowledge, held by the people of East Ayrshire, has ensured that even with the STV voting system only three Conservatives have been elected to East Ayrshire Council.

For Councillor Cook to suggest that the Cross Party Sounding Board is “a key method of consultation on council policies” is complete and utter nonsense.

The sounding board is not a decision-making body and the deliberations of the sounding board were abused by the current coalition administration.

If Councillor Cook was seriously interested in genuine consultation could he not put forward a motion for a Cabinet with five SNP, four Labour, and one Conservative with the Governance and Scrutiny committee chaired by the main opposition?

– Councillor John McGhee, Ward 1.