Permission for new home on councillor's relative's land ‘not rubber stamped'
AN UNSUCCESSFUL call for no confidence in Pembrokeshire's deputy leader has been labelled 'an abuse of a democratic forum for personal promotion,' but its instigator has said he has no regrets.
At an extraordinary meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council on June 2, Independent Group leader Cllr Huw Murphy called for no confidence in Councillor Paul Miller to remain as Deputy Leader & Cabinet Member.
Cllr Murphy had made the call, which was ultimately unsuccessful, partly due to comments made by Cllr Miller at an April meeting of the council's Cabinet in which he moved an amendment with regards to Welsh Education Strategic Plan (WESP) to request officers collect data from parents of children electing a Welsh medium education.
A bone of contention for Cllr Murphy was when Cllr Miller commented with regards to parental choice for Welsh medium school Ysgol Caer Elen: '…all of them that I know who send their children to Caer Ellen honestly couldn't give a toss whether it was Welsh or English'.
'Comments such as this in 2025 are unacceptable and serve to create a perception of bias when it comes to the delivery of Welsh medium education, something that generations have striven for, namely equality and fairness,' Cllr Murphy has previously said.
'For a Deputy Leader of Council to make such comments and then refuse to retract when he has had ample opportunity to do so makes his position untenable both as Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member.
The matter was reported to the Welsh Language Commissioner and was called in to the May Schools O&S Scrutiny Committee, ultimately returning to a May 21 meeting of the Cabinet, hearing a proposal by Cllr Miller to now collect data on all languages and additional information, before the special extraordinary meeting of June 2.
Responding at the special meeting, Cllr Miller repeated previously made comments, saying there had never been an intention to collect the information through a formal schools process.
He reiterated the 'couldn't give a toss' comment was one made by a mother in his ward which he had repeated, apologising if he had caused upset.
He added: 'I believe Cllr Murphy should be deeply ashamed of his actions, he is trying to create division in the county of Pembrokeshire where no division exists,' adding: 'To suggest that either I personally or the administration is anti-Welsh is simply not true.'
He was not the only one to take umbrage at Cllr Murphy's call, with Conservative Group Leader Cllr Di Clements saying: 'This is nothing more than petty political point scoring which we want no part of,' and council leader Cllr Jon Harvey saying it was 'creating division where none exists and political opportunism at its worst.'
The no confidence call in Cllr Miller was defeated by 28 votes to 16, with 11 abstentions.
There are 11 Conservative Group members in the council.
Commenting after the meeting, Plaid Cymru county councillor for Tenby, Cllr Michael Williams who said he 'in no way condoned Cllr Miller's comments,' described the meeting as 'a complete waste of time and money'.
He added: 'Cllr Murphy seems to think Local Government is a game and submitted absolutely no arguments to support his motion.'
He went on to describe it as 'a pathetic waste of time,' saying: 'I hope lessons will be learnt, but I doubt they will. It amounted to an abuse of a democratic forum for personal promotion.'
Cllr Murphy said he still felt he had made the right call, saying Cllr Miller 'never once showed contrition for his comments'.
He added: 'The fact Cabinet have now been compelled to amend their position through the call-in and Welsh Language Commissioner's intervention shows the value of these challenges as otherwise Cllr Miller would be requesting data from less than 20 per cent of Neyland parents for wishing to send their children to Caer Elen over the 80 per cent sending their children to Haverfordwest High or Milford Haven which would suggest clear bias against Welsh medium education.
'As Leader of Independent Group I have no regrets in requesting a call in and then an EGM and if such behaviour is repeated by Cabinet members it won't be the last time such a meeting is requested under the constitution. Neither did we canvass support from any other political group.'
He finished: 'The fact the Conservative Group, through abstaining, threw Cllr Miller a lifeline will not be lost on Pembrokeshire voters who will draw their own conclusions on such a decision where the Conservatives have effectively supported Labour and the administration on this issue.'
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