Councillor faces party rap for snubbing campaign levy

The Journal
Thursday, November 16, 2006

A former council leader faces being kicked out by his own comrades after refusing to pay part of his allowance into party funds.
Sunderland Council's Labour group will meet on Monday to discuss action against Bryn Sidaway, who refused to pay up after a vote in July to place a 3% levy on members' allowances to fund campaigning.
Coun Sidaway, who was leader of the council until he lost his Hendon seat to the Conservatives in 1999, would not give authorisation for the money to be taken out of his payments from the authority.
Since returning to the council in 2003, he has been known to be at odds with the current leadership of the group under Bob Symonds and friends say he expects to have the group whip withdrawn at the meeting.
A letter from group chief whip Anne Hall to Labour councillors said: "To ensure natural justice and to prevent the proceedings being prejudiced, this matter should not be discussed by any members of the group until the special meeting."
Last night Coun Hall would only say: "It's an internal Labour Party matter and it will be dealt with according to the procedures of the party." But a Labour spokesman said: "The Labour group, as with most other groups across the country, democratically voted to levy their members to pay a very small percentage of their allowances into a pot that's used to run the group and support political campaigning.
"It's perfectly legitimate that they pay for this out of their own pocket. If you want to play for a team you have to abide by the rules of that team. It's not fair on others not to contribute to that."
However, supporters of Coun Sidaway argue there is nothing in the party's rules concerning levies.
Sources close to the ex-leader said he objected to the levy - £215 for a backbench councillor - "on principle", as he already donated to the party, and believed he would have no control over how group funds are spent.
One source accused the group of running a "protection racket".