Hounslow (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Hounslow councillor Cllr Dunne faces calls to resign after telling an opposition member to “f*** off” during a heated full council meeting on Tuesday.
Cllr Katherine Dunne has stated that she doesn’t recollect making the comment.
Cllr Dunne, Hounslow Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate, Environment, and Transport, is accused of making the comment to Cllr Ron Mushiso during a heated meeting that urged the Mayor to suspend proceedings and give a warning.
Cllr Joanna Biddolph raised a point of order with the Mayor seconds after Cllr Dunne finished her reflections, claiming that someone had sworn. Cllr Mushiso then addressed the gathering, “In the public meeting, Cllr Dunne swore at me.”
The Mayor, Cllr Amy Croft, then directed him to discuss it with the monitoring officer following the meeting.
“At the start of this council term, both political groups even brought forward a joint motion on ‘Debate Not Hate’. Clearly, it’s one rule for Labour councillors, and another rule for everyone else.
Residents rightly expect the highest standards from elected councillors, and also expect that their representatives will be able to go about the job they’ve been elected to do without fear of abuse. Cllr Dunne must urgently apologise for her behaviour and reflect on whether someone who acts in this way can continue as a cabinet member.”
Cllr Dunne has denied that it occurred. Both sides of the chamber were heckling and interrupting during Tuesday’s meeting, which the LDRS viewed live online. This resulted in the Mayor having to take the unknown action of prorogating the meeting for five minutes, encouraging councillors to cool down and bear duly.
The reproach in Hounslow comes only days after a member was forced to apologise and abdicate as commission president after the LDRS showed he’d situated a Lamborghini SUV in impaired bays at the council services without a Blue Badge on two separate occasions.
How are local councillors and residents reacting to calls for her resignation?
Councillors and residents have expressed mixed but substantially critical responses to calls for Councillor Katherine Dunne’s abdication after her use of a slur. Numerous original political numbers have emphasized prospects that tagged representatives maintain a high standard of behaviour and have prompted Dunne to apologise and reflect on her conduct.
The council and original political numbers emphasize that residents anticipate high norms of behaviour from their tagged representatives and that they should be suitable to work without fear of abuse. There’s no sanctioned statement yet regarding formal correctional action or abdication, but the call for a reason is strong in circles.
No sanctioned council decision or abdication advertisement has been made yet, but pressure is mounting for her to address the issue intimately.
