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| We Are Members of the Independent Network |
Member of the Independent Network Andrew Pope submitted a Freedom of Information request in relation to Southampton City Councillors, and whether any of them were in arrears with their own council tax.
The Council is required by the FoI Act to respond within a deadline of 20 working days. A week ago, they wrote to Andrew informing him they were running late, and did not have the information. They also promised an estimated date.
A week later, neither the requested information, nor a date, have been given.
Residents still do not know whether any of the 51 Southampton councillors are in arrears with their council tax. Elections are coming on 7th May 2026. It is in the public interest that they know.
It is also in the public interest that citizens know that three councillors did not even attend the February 2026 Full Council to set the Council budget. Citizens and voters do not know if they supported the Budget, voted against it, or abstained. By law, councillors have to have their vote recorded in the minutes.
As exclusively reported by us, suspended Labour Councillor Lee Whitbread (Redbridge ward), another Labour Councillor Vivienne Windle (Banister and Polygon ward), and a Tory councillor Valerie Laurent (Harefield), were not there. They gave their apologies.
We've asked them why. They haven't even replied to our polite offer of a right of reply.
Andrew has requested an urgent update from the Council and the missing councillors. He says:
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| Andrew Co-Founded Somerset Independents as well as Southampton Independents Photo: Somerset Independents |
"This Labour-run Council is in chaos. They should have this information already at hand. And the three absent councillors do not seem to think that they should be accountable to the people in their wards and areas.
In Somerset, by asking similar questions, I discovered many councillors that had not paid up - not just oversights for a month or two, but many months and in some cases, YEARS of council tax not paid.
The worst example was a Green Party councillor who thought it was all OK. You can see more information on the Somerset Independents website.
I have also discovered this week by asking questions of the Head of Legal at the Council that only the newly-elected third of councillors in May will have a DBS check.
The other two-thirds of councillors will not have had a DBS criminal records check.
How do residents know that their councillor has not gained a record since being elected, or even before being elected? The disqualifications are not stringent enough.
I have also discovered that councillors are not checked over whether they have been disqualified as a company director. I find this odd, considering they vote on hundreds of millions of pounds of public money during Full Council and at Cabinet.
What do you think? Does this all smell wrong? I think it does. Southampton Independents will continue its campaigns and investigations.
The big political parties do not like scrutiny of their finances, or their representatives.
As reported by the Times and Independent, and on our website, Labour MP Satvir Kaur accepted £10,000 from a convicted violent criminal and Eastleigh Labour councillor, and two Portsmouth MPs also accepted money from Shere Sattar, as well as central Labour HQ. This was despite Sattar being convicted in 2022 and expelled from the Labour Party! What checks can they have carried out? Not very accurate ones, that's for sure! Does it make any difference that they paid the money back, but only after being find out? No."
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| Dodgy Labour MPs and Dodgy Labour Councillors Image: Southampton Independents |