HYNDBURN Council leader’s refusals to resurrect an open Question Time feature at council meetings ‘questions democracy’, it has been claimed.

Opposition councillors have called for the revival of a Prime Minister’s Questions-type format so Cllr Miles Parkinson is forced to answer probing questions – including from the public – on the spot.

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But council documents reveal Cllr Parkinson believes Leader’s Question Time ‘had often become a political battleground rather than a forum for constructive dialogue about issues affecting the borough.’

Conservative councillor Brian Roberts said the open, spontaneous format of the feature was scrapped by Labour, who instead forced the public and opposition councillors to submit questions seven days in advance.

He said: “Having to submit questions seven days before gives an opportunity for officers to prepare a reply rather than a councillor to reply on the spot.

“It makes council meetings irrelevant. What happens with spontaneous questions is it stimulates other councillors to join in the debate.

“It questions democracy. Labour will argue decisions happen in cabinet but if they don’t want you in cabinet, they can stop you, although to be fair to Miles he does bring us in.”

Cllr Parkinson denied asking for questions in advance ‘quashes democracy’ and said the council uses the same format as the one at county hall.

He said: “Unfortunately, in the past, people got overheated and said things in council meetings and we had councillors taking libel action against one another.

“Democracy is still there, you can ask any question you want and get a response. They simply have to put it down in writing.

“We tried to stop people getting up and saying things which were derogatory to other individuals.”

He continued: “If you are a resident you can write in on any topic and put in a question to get a relevant response rather than a flippant response.”

St Oswalds UK Independence Party (UKIP) councillor, Paul Thompson, said he could see both sides of the argument.

He said: “This was brought up at a previous Leader’s Board meeting. [Opposition leader] Peter Britcliffe very much wants Question Time back but I’m not sure Miles does.

“Mile’s argument is it would be like Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons, where everybody shouts at each other for an hour.”

“There are facilities for the public to put questions forward. All the previous format was used for was certain political parties to argue for argument’s sake.”