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WALTHAM FOREST: Recount of High Street ward begins

10:01am Friday 30th July 2010 in


A RECOUNT of the disputed High Street ward election will begin today.

The Liberal Democrats applied to the High Court to have the ballot boxes re-opened after a member of the public spotted a potential error.

It is possible that the Labour candidates had been mistakenly given 1,000 extra block votes.

This may have led to Steve Terry being elected instead of Liberal Democrat Mahmood Hussain.

The ballot boxes, which are kept in a high-security Town Hall vault, are being be taken to the High Court today along with other papers relating to the ward count.

They will then be handed over to Senior Master Steven Whitaker, or one his deputies.

Court officers will recount the votes, supervised by council staff and political bodies.

A result will be announced within seven days.

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Comments(7)

Techno2 says...
10:11am Fri 30 Jul 10

If Mr Terry, who was Chairman of the Walthamstow constituency made the Labour Chief whip as a result of this alleged 'mistake', is indeed confirmed not to have been entitled to act as councillor for the High Street Ward, will we be told how much money from the public purse he has received during his period of pseudo-public office?

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md-j says...
2:26pm Fri 30 Jul 10

'supervised by council staff..'
Why is this not reassuring? The very people whose actions are in question in the first place. The ordinary public, one of whose vigilance spotted the anomaly, are excluded.

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Quintilis says...
10:36pm Fri 30 Jul 10

Techno2 wrote:
If Mr Terry, who was Chairman of the Walthamstow constituency made the Labour Chief whip as a result of this alleged 'mistake', is indeed confirmed not to have been entitled to act as councillor for the High Street Ward, will we be told how much money from the public purse he has received during his period of pseudo-public office?
As I have observed previously in relation to your past comments on this matter, Techno2, it is not Cllr Terry's fault that this unfortunate situation has arisen. He had no reason to think (indeed he HAS no reason to think until the results of the recount are known) that he was anything other than the bona fide elected representative for High Street Ward. He has been working as a Borough Councillor since the elections and the salary he has drawn has been taken in good faith. It is mean-spirited in the extreme of you to suggest anything other or to once again impugn Cllr Terry's integrity in this way.

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Techno2 says...
12:40am Sat 31 Jul 10

Quintilis wrote:
Techno2 wrote: If Mr Terry, who was Chairman of the Walthamstow constituency made the Labour Chief whip as a result of this alleged 'mistake', is indeed confirmed not to have been entitled to act as councillor for the High Street Ward, will we be told how much money from the public purse he has received during his period of pseudo-public office?
As I have observed previously in relation to your past comments on this matter, Techno2, it is not Cllr Terry's fault that this unfortunate situation has arisen. He had no reason to think (indeed he HAS no reason to think until the results of the recount are known) that he was anything other than the bona fide elected representative for High Street Ward. He has been working as a Borough Councillor since the elections and the salary he has drawn has been taken in good faith. It is mean-spirited in the extreme of you to suggest anything other or to once again impugn Cllr Terry's integrity in this way.
I note that your gallant defence of the Labour Party's chief whip does not resolve the issue as to what public money he has accepted during this period of non-elected public office.

The man knows full well he was not elected legitimately, but gained office by someone giving an extra thousand votes to him and his Labour party pals.

The question, which remains unanswered is, whether knowing that, he has been taking any public money in the interim?

its a fairly simple question, so why no definitive answer? Or does all that guff about transparency from the Labour Party remain just the same old guff as it has always been in 2-Star Waltham Forest?

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Quintilis says...
11:58am Sat 31 Jul 10

I'm sure Cllr Terry has been drawing his entitlement whilst working as a Borough Councillor and the pay sacale is clearly laid out on the Council's website. I'm not defending Cllr Terry per se (he doesn't need me to) but the principle of the thing. How you dare make the assertion that Cllr Terry knows he was not legitimately elected is beyond me. No-one knows until the recount is completed. Your bitterly partisan approach to this issue does you no credit whatsoever. I suggest you lie down in a darkened room until the result is announced rather than rushing to judgment.

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Techno2 says...
9:41pm Sat 31 Jul 10

Nothing wrong with asking legitimate questions, Quintilis.

Mr Terry is supposed to be a grown-up, so its interesting that he doesn't answer for himself about the money he has or hasn't accepted. I suppose you are the next best thing?

Just to remind you, the returning officer himself said the 1000 votes he was 'elected' by were not actually caste by any voter in the High Street, let alone caste for Mr Terry. They were added to his tally by 'mistake'. Unless you know something the ONS and everyone else doesn't about how securely the ballot boxes have been guarded since election night, the recount ought to show that he was not elected as a councillor for this Borough.

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Quintilis says...
11:37pm Sat 31 Jul 10

It may well show that, Techno2, but I suggest you keep your counsel until we get the official verdict. (Votes are cast by the way, not caste.)

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