Party councillor unable to vote due to technical difficulties leaving numbers tied
Sinn Féin will 'call in' a controversial decision for Belfast to sign up to the Armed Forces Covenant, after a DUP motion passed on a knife edge at City Hall due to a casting vote by the Alliance Lord Mayor.
The party however succeeded during the full council meeting on Thursday in the most contentious fashion. On a vote to support the Armed Forces Covenant, 27 voted in favour, from the DUP, Alliance, the UUP and the TUV, while 27 voted against the proposal, from Sinn Féin, the SDLP, and People Before Profit. Three Green councillors abstained.
After legal advice from the City Solicitor Nora Largey, the vote was upheld, and Sinn Féin said they would be “calling in” the decision. The two Nationalist parties then tried and failed to stop the Strategic Policy and Resources Committees minutes, where the original vote on the Covenant took place, from being signed off.
Councillors have to give reasons for any call-in, explaining why they believe the decision “was not arrived at after a proper consideration of the relevant facts and issues” and why they believe the decision “would disproportionately affect adversely any section of the inhabitants of the district.” DUP Alderman Dean McCullough said: “It would be making a mockery of the democracy in this city with the false equivalence of Councillor Cobain, who was sitting here for the debate and voted, and wasn’t heard.
The City Solicitor Nora Largey said: “In the circumstances, because it did appear Councillor McCabe did have some difficulties in accessing the meeting, she may not have been present for the whole entire debate, and in those circumstances it would be my advice that she wouldn’t then take part in the vote in any event. The vote was recorded after the vote count had concluded.”
Armed Forces Green Party NHS DUP SDLP TUV Ulster Unionist Party Politics
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