FIVE things we learnt about the Milton Keynes taxi scandal from last night's council meetingIN many ways last night's meeting of the full council at the Civic Offices was like a pantomime.
Councillors were cast as villains, and as they sheepishly tried to blend in with their environment at the back of the chamber, there were plenty of chants of 'he's behind you'.
There was also drama, something which can rarely be said of the many council meetings this website attends.
Two petitions were handed into the council, with more than 200 signatories, demanding the resignation of councillors Stuart Burke, Gladstone McKenzie and Stuart Burke.
A motion asking Liberal Democrat leader Douglas McCall (who was absent through illness) to reconsider former mayor Shafiq's position on an important committee was passed by a majority of the council.
But what did we learn from last night's meeting? Here's a list of five things that caught our attention.
1) The councillors don't look like they will resign
Due to Douglas McCall's absence through illness, of which Labour's council leader Pete Marland said was 'fair' and 'not shirking responsibility', one of the councillors involved in the scandal, deputy Lib Dem leader Stuart Burke, stood in his place to answer questions.
Questions to Subhan Shafiq and Gladstone MacKenzie were not accepted as they were neither cabinet members of a chair of a committee.
It left Cllr Burke in the firing line - and we now know he has absolutely no intentions of resigning.
Responding to member of the public Dennis Edwards' question about whether he was 'a fit and proper person' to continue serving as a councillor, he responded: "I would love to go back and change what I did. But I believe what I did was lawful and I believe I will be exonerated.
"I do not believe that we have to do any more than we have done up to this point."
He added: "There's little point in me resigning now when I am up for election again in May. I have no intention of resigning because I don't think we want to waste your money on a by-election."
2) Councillors will be given training
Douglas McCall has already questioned the legal advice council officers gave the regulatory-sub committee when the decision was made to grant a taxi licence to convicted rapist Nadeem Ahmed Kiani.
And last night council leader Pete Marland told the chamber that training would be given to councillors in the future 'so this cannot happen again'.
3) The public are angry....really angry
The public gallery was as packed as MKWeb has seen at any council meeting.
The strength of feeling was clear straight from the off when Subhan Shafiq was booed when he entered the room.
Despite current mayor Derek Eastman's best efforts to request 'inflammatory language' be avoided, things did occasionally bubble over.
At one point a member of the public even turned around and begged with his colleagues to keep things civil and respectful.
The emotion displayed by the public - who have handed in two petitions demanding the resignations of the three councillors - may have come as a surprise to some councillors.
It shouldn't have. The public feel badly let down by a council who feel they place the public at risk from a convicted sex offender.
They also feel betrayed that two of the three councillors have yet to offer real apologies for their actions in the scandal, and this is perhaps why the anger has yet to subside.
4) Nothing will really happen until the end of November
Results of an internal audit on the scandal are likely to be released at the end of November.
Until then, Pete Marland is keen to stress that he does not want to make things personal against the three councillors.
"I will not condemn any individual until I see the audit report," he said. "We have to be careful not to individualise this."
But he also launched a staunch defence of how his administration has dealt with the scandal.
He added: "It is untrue that we are only checking 100 licences. This council has made provision to check 1,300 taxi licenses.
"Nothing will be swept under the carpet by this administration. I suspended the licence of the driver the moment I found out with the full knowledge that I could have gone to court facing legal action.
"I believe the actions we have taken have made the city safer now. I would put my wife and daughter in a taxi tonight because of the actions taken by this council."
Crucially though, the council cannot order the three councillors to either resign from any committee they serve on, or indeed as councillors.
And with the councillors involved believing they will be cleared of any wrongdoing by the audit, things aren't likely to move until it is released.
5) This row isn't over
Until the audit report is released, the councillors could face heckling from the public gallery for every meeting they turn up to.
It will be a long time before they are considered anything other than damaged goods by many members of the public.
Read more:
http://www.mkweb.co.uk/things-learnt-Mi ... z3GxUN8BAI
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