The leader of the opposition at Salford council stormed out of a meeting today (February 23) after saying he was 'attacked' during a debate about the budget.
Conservative councillor Les Turner took exception to comments about his party's absence from a scrutiny meeting where the budget was discussed.
The Boothstown and Ellenbrook representative called for councillors to 'respect' each other before leaving the council meeting saying, 'I abstain'.
READ MORE: Mayor defends council tax hike to cover care worker pay rise
Soon after, Salford council approved its budget for the next financial year including a 4 pc council tax increase to help fund a pay rise for care workers.
Speaking after the meeting, the Tory group leader told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he had intended to leave at around 11am due to prior personal commitments – and he hoped the budget would be passed by then.
However, he left earlier than planned because of 'inappropriate' comments.
He said: "It was better to leave then.
"I had intended to leave at the break, but I could see it was going to go on.
"I didn't want to say anything I may later regret.
"It's the first time in 16 years that's happened."
Responding to the mayor's budget proposals, Coun Turner raised concerns about the amount of cash the council holds in its reserves – around £246m.
He said the Tories support all of Salford's care workers being paid the Real Living Wage, but insisted that raising council tax is not the right approach.
But Labour councillor Sharmina August criticised the Conservatives for not proposing an alternative budget, calling this an 'abdication of responsibility'.
Deputy mayor John Merry questioned why none of the Tories attended a recent overview and scrutiny board meeting where the budget was discussed.
Coun Turner asked the city solicitor to confirm that the opposition group is under no legal obligation to propose an alternative budget – which she did.
He also argued that councillors should respect one another and not make assumptions about why elected members might have to miss meetings.
Speaking after the meeting, Coun Turner criticised councillors for 'jumping to conclusions' and questioning why members miss meetings in a public forum.
He said: "Everybody's got busy lives. Sometimes you can make it, sometimes you can't. It's a personal thing. You need to have respect for each other."
Responding to the opposition leader's departure, Salford mayor Paul Dennett said he hopes that all councillors take the budget setting process seriously.
He said: "It's very easy to rock up at council today, tell us what you don't like, tell us what you do like, and not propose an alternative budget.
"If you're serious about this budget, may I suggest you do your homework."
Dennett described his proposals as a 'budget for the whole of Salford'.
He confirmed that all 4,000 care workers in the city will receive £9.90 an hour from April 1, giving those on national minimum wage an extra £768 next year.
He reaffirmed the council's commitment to building 'truly affordable' homes and said that this budget will accelerate the public housebuilding programme.
And he said the budget sows the seeds of Salford's skills and jobs programme which aims to create a new 'front door' for residents to access employment and training schemes within the city as well as expanding current services.
He said: "It is in this context that I commend this budget to council as a prudent approach to managing the council’s finances in an exceptionally challenging and uncertain environment following the pandemic, putting our residents at the heart of everything we do, while sincerely hoping that the government will get on with levelling up for the people of Salford and more broadly."
The budget was approved with all Labour councillors voting in favour of it.
The two Conservative councillors who were present for the vote abstained and the city's only Lib Dem councillor did not attend the meeting as he was representing Salford in welcoming the Grand Rabbi of Satmar from New York.
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