Haringey Labour has been accused of underhand tactics by the opposition Liberal Democrats, after the ruling party pushed out all the Lib Dem oral questions at next Monday’s full council meeting.

The controversy has arisen as the Lib Dems discovered that Labour had quietly tabled enough questions from its own backbenchers before last week’s deadline to drive out all the questions being tabled by the opposition.

Question time has traditionally been an opportunity for the opposition party to grill the council on current issues. Last month, the Lib Dems pressed Labour with a series of questions on Haringey’s handling of the Victoria Climbie tragedy. However, this month, Labour has successfully blocked all the Lib Dem questions, with some rather sycophantic offerings from its own members, with no opportunities for the opposition to ask any questions at all.

Lib Dem Leader Lynne Featherstone has branded the move a disgrace, and has accused the Labour council of being terrified to face questions from the Lib Dems.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“The public expect the opposition to be given the chance to ask questions, and this has always been the case.This move is both sneaky and underhand. Yet it’s all too typical of Haringey Labour that having had a drubbing in the elections in May they’ve suddenly decided to start tabling questions, attempting to stifle any examination of their record by others.

“But it will be a hollow victory, because in the long run, we will ensure that Haringey Labour has nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.”