I was at the first meeting of the newly elected Cambridgeshire County Council earlier this week, to say the prayers. I came away reminded of the pressing need to pray for them more. At what could have been a rather formal meeting rubberstamping various nominations, they found themselves wrestling with the issues of openness and trust that are at the heart of national politics today. Should the cross-party Policy Development Groups (set up I believe when the council was hung) meet not in private but in public? The Lib Dems pressed for that (as they have before). The Tories announced a constitutional review instead and defeated the proposal. The Lib Dems then (I think) announced that they would no longer feel able to join in the PDGs if they were not held in public.
This set the scene for what felt like quite a tense meeting, with a smouldering concern on the Lib Dem side that standing orders struggled to contain at a couple of points, and which my ear was well bent about afterwards.
So I wonder how our local democratic process is going to respond to the winds of change that are blowing through politics at present? And how we can work with our representatives to bring the best possible future to pass for all of us? Prayer for our politicians is one place to start. Here is a note of some of the key players:
CHAIR Linda Oliver
DEPUTY CHAIR John Powley
CABINET MEMBERSHIP AND PORTFOLIOS 2009/10
Leader of the Council Councillor J M Tuck
Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Highways and Access Councillor L W McGuire
Cabinet Member for Children Councillor M Curtis
Cabinet Member for Learning Councillor D Harty
Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing Councillor F Yeulett
Cabinet Member for Communities Councillor Sir Peter Brown
Cabinet Member for Growth, Infrastructure and Strategic Planning Councillor R Pegram
Cabinet Member for Economy and the Environment Councillor T Orgee
Cabinet Member for Resources and Performance Councillor J R Reynolds
Cabinet Member for Customer Service and Transformation Councillor S Criswell
OPPOSITION GROUP LEADERS AND SPOKESMEN
Liberal Democrat
Group Leader David Jenkins
Deputy Group Leader Peter Downes
Community and Adult Services Fiona Whelan & Michael Williamson
Environment Services Nicola Harrison & Kilian Bourke
Children and Young Peoples Services Peter Downes & Lucy Nethsingha
Corporate Directorates David Jenkins & Rupert Moss-Eccardt
Labour
Leader Christine Carter
Deputy Leader Tariq Sadiq
Almighty and eternal God,
to whom we must all give account:
guide with your Spirit the members and officers of our county, district and local councils,
that they may be faithful to the mind of Christ
and seek in all their purposes to enrich our common life;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Filed under: Current affairs, Uncategorized , Cambridgeshire, County Council, Politics
[...] The Bishop of Huntingdon was there too. He gave the opening prayer, listened to the debate, and came to the conclusion at the end of the meeting that he ought to carry on praying for politicians. You can read his account at http://bpdt.wordpress.com/2009/06/25/praying-for-politicians/. [...]