Conservative Councillors yesterday seized control of Cornwall Council’s audit committee.
The ruling Liberal Democrat/Independent coalition that forms the administration that currently runs Cornwall Council has made a practice of voting tactically to only give chair and deputy chair seats (and the allowances that go with them) to ‘friendly’ councillors as a way to buy votes.
However at yesterday’s Audit Committee meeting several councillors were late, and Cllr David Harris (Truro Trehaverne) and Cllr Philip Desmonde (Pool and Tehidy) were duly elected Chair and Deputy Chair respectively.
The Audit Committee’s responsibilities include considering the effectiveness of the authority’s risk management arrangements; reviewing and approving the Annual Statement of Accounts; considering the Annual Audit and Inspection Letter from the Audit Commission and adopting the Council’s Annual Governance Statement.
Commenting Cllr Harris said:
“I am delighted to have been elected Chair of Cornwall Council’s Audit Committee. The Audit Committee is a particularly important one in terms of scrutinising the ruling administration, and the Conservative Group has always said that in order to be effective, this group should be chaired by a member of the opposition. I look forward to working with the committee from my new position, to hold the administration to account where necessary.”
