Herald/One Bognor launches 2 Petitions, one Parliamentary on National Insurance, the other re Phoenix Centre and 39 Youth Club Centres
by Jan Cosgrove, Editor
In the wake of the furore about proposed National Insurance increases for employees to pay for Social Care, the Herald last week launched a Parliamentary Petition calling for the abolition of the Upper Earnings Limit (UEL) which provides that people earning above the UEL (currently £50k per annum) pay only 2% employee contribution on earnings above that level.
The political debate about the Government’s extra NI levy is that it would hit the lower earning hardest. My Freedom of Information to HMRC in 2010 showed that, as far back as that, abolition of UEL would yield an extra £9.3 BILLION a year. So perhaps since then, that would have added around £100 billion to the NI Fund.
I submitted a new FoI to HMRC on 5th September:
Due very soon ….
I checked what the UEL means today on employee earnings NI at various levels:
UK Salary Calculator 2021/2022 | Breakdown Of Employer Costs
- £25k a year, the earner pays 7.4% on gross
- £50k a year, pays 9.7%
- £1 million p.a., pays 2.4% on gross, at £2 million 2.2%
- on £11.5k p.a. 2% or around the same as on £2 million …..
Employers would benefit from abolition of UEL also.
The Herald’s Petition seeks the end of this iniquitous system.
So please SIGN this Petition as the Bill goes to the House of Lords:
Please SIGN and SHARE
It is rather slow at this time, I am writing to some members of the House of Lords, also to national media.
Nick Gibb MP fails to respond to the Herald’s Open Letter — and so do all the other MPs (£81k a year, paying 6.7% on gross ….)
Still no response from our MP, who also lost his job as Schools Minister in the recent Cabinet Reshuffle by Boris Johnson. Nor from one single MP of the nigh on 650 I’ve mailed on this.
Please SIGN and SHARE
Petition to reopen Phoenix Centre and 39 Club as full-time youth centres under community management — a One Bognor Campaign
West Sussex is looking to decide the future of these 2 centres, the last 2 youth clubs in town, the Phoenix built with lottery money for open access for our young people but hardly used for that intended purpose. We need to make sure our children and young people have these community assets when so much has been taken from them. There are youth and community organisations willing to step up to this challenge and take them on, for their intended purposes. Indeed, a group of organisations working with young people are seeking to build a partnership to offer services for young people in Bognor. I shall be ensuring that the original purpose of the Lottery Grant re The Phoenix is kept to the fore.
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Town Council By-Election Marine Ward 14th October 2021 — persons nominated
Former Town Mayor and Councillor, Pat Dillon, enters the fray
Arun Councillors walk out after being stitched-up like proverbial kippers!
It HAS happened before, despite Cllr Paul English saying to the contrary (it was his Tory Group then) but last week saw Councillors from 3 of the 5 Groups at Arun stage a walk-out after losing a vote which was called by a Tory Cllr (Grant Roberts) on a motion moved without notice. The effect was to remove from the Constitution what is called the 6-month rule which says, in effect, that decisions made within 6 months cannot be overturned. Also, under the new rules brought in by those parties in the last administration, several motions by Green, Lib Dem and Independent Councillors were not debated there and then but referred to a relevant Committee set up under the new Constitution they had steered through in May.
I wrote to the new Monitoring Officer at Arun about legal aspects of the motion without notice but have had no reply to date:
“I wish to raise as an elector/resident the matter of the Motion without Notice which led to a change in the Constitution.
Looking at the Constitution, Part 2, Article 14, it seems the procedure for making changes is set out clearly there at:
“(iv) the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Chair of the Constitution Working Party, to agree that for any other reason the proposed change be put direct to Full Council for consideration and decision.”
Also Part 3:
“ 11. Adopting and changing the Constitution, other than allowed for by Article 14 (Review and Revision of the Constitution).”
Cllr Roberts moved the suspension of procedure rule 15.1 (Notice) by use of procedure rule Part 5 (1) 16 (m) to achieve a change to the Constitution.
A Procedural Rule can never be superior to a Constitutional Article, the latter takes precedence, for clear and obvious reasons. As there was no recommendation on the Agenda by the Chief Executive, it would seem reasonable to me to suggest this procedure was ultra vires. Cllr Roberts did not propose to suspend Article 14.2(iv).
I personally understand frustration by some Councillors over recent proceedings etc, but I feel strongly that to accept this decision last night sets a very dangerous precedent and might place the Council at serious risk of challenge.”
Cllr James Walsh, Leader of the Lib Dems, made this comment for The Herald:
“The Liberal Democrats, Independent group and Greens walked out because the Tories refused to debate urgent motions of great interest to local residents, dealing with Southern Water Sewage Pollution, Empty Homes, Flooding, and Climate Change. It was a deliberate sabotage of normal council procedure, designed to stifle democratic discussion and decision making.”
No other Group Leader has responded.
The moment of the walk-out
Full meeting video:
These proceedings rather overshadowed the fact this was the final full Council of outgoing Chief Executive, Nigel Lynn whose final day of work at Arun is in mid-Oct. Group Leaders spoke at this juncture early in the meeting (see video link above). Mr Lynn goes to unitary authority West Berks, where changes are afoot:
