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20/05/08 : Labour’s alternative nomination for Deputy Mayor
Reading Labour Councillors are maintaining their long-standing opposition to former Tory Leader Fred Pugh becoming Deputy Mayor, and subsequently Mayor, of the Borough, and will be making an alternative nomination at the Annual Meeting of the Council tonight.
Labour Leader Jo Lovelock explains that the party fully accepts that the Mayoralty should be shared between all parties represented on the Council, and she has told her opposite numbers that Labour would support another Liberal Democrat to follow Peter Beard or another Conservative who did not have a record like Fred Pugh’s on community issues in particular. She says:
“Just six months ago, Cllr. Pugh said that he saw nothing to disagree with in Richard Willis’ praise of Ian Smith as a “wise and benign leader” of Rhodesia. That was par for the course. Despite various outcries about similar remarks over the years, it seems Fred Pugh still holds views we find unacceptable in multi-cultural Reading. The following are just a few examples of Fred’s attitude:
He opposed joining with other Councils in making a stand against apartheid in South Africa, saying Soweto township was no worse than a dusty Lower Earley
He opposed the Council giving a grant to the Reading Gay & Lesbian Helpline, saying this was not the sort of thing public money should be spent on
He questioned bringing the Anne Frank exhibition to Reading, saying that it was about time we forgot about the war
“When last year Fred Pugh supported Richard Willis’ views on Rhodesia, the Conservative Group apparently instructed him to make no further comments on the issue. They would need to give him many more such instructions if he became Mayor - for events such as the planned celebration of Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday this summer; for Gay Pride, which the Council supports; and for every time he attends an event organised by one of Reading’s many diverse communities.
“Reading is a multicultural town, with good community relations, something we have worked very hard to build and maintain. The first duty of the Mayor, of whichever party, is, as the town’s first citizen, to develop and promote those good community relations. Sadly, Cllr. Pugh’s record over many years gives us no confidence that he could or would do so.
“The Labour Group will therefore be nominating as Deputy Mayor Southcote Councillor Deborah Edwards. Her voluntary work in the community, at SITE (Southcote IT Experience), at Southcote Children’s Centre, as a school Governor and as a local Councillor is exemplary, and she has shown over and over again the ability to understand, empathise with and support and help people from all sorts of different backgrounds. Deborah would make an excellent Mayor.”
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