Monklands District Council And The Public Interest

EDM number 991 in 1992-93, proposed by David Shaw on 02/12/1992.

That this House is concerned that for the last 10 years Councillor J. Brooks has been Labour Leader of Monklands district council, where with the help of the local Labour Party he has achieved a position of near absolute power which has resulted in (1) a ú1 million land deal for a company owned by Councillor Brooks and his brother, whereby the company acquired council land for ú50,000 and forced through planning permission to make the land worth more than ú1 million, the payment of generous fees to Councillor Brooks and his brother and other expenses followed by the company being placed in liquidation with unpaid bills to third party creditors of over ú200,000, (2) the employment by the Council of Councillor Brooks' son in Direct Works, another son in the Planning Department and a daughter in a temporary post, (3) the sacking from council employment of Labour Party member Tom McFarlane at 51 years of age, believed to be the only Monklands District Council worker ever made redundant without being offered alternative employment, because he and his wife had dared to question the internal procedures of the local Labour Party and its corrupt rule of the Council and (4) the attempt by Councillor Brooks to cover up the mafia-like behaviour of himself and other Labour councillors by seeking to obtain council funding for legal fees for a private libel action against the local newspaper and by starting a council-owned free newspaper; believes that other allegations about relationships between the exenditure of council money and benefits to Councillor Brooks and his family need to be independently investigated; and is further concerned that the manner in which the Labour Party is governing local councils in Scotland is against the public interest and requires to be independently investigated.

This motion has been signed by a total of 10 MPs.