I CALL on Councillor Morris to do the honourable thing and resign.
The fiasco of the £300,000 grant to a compensation marketing company has clearly raised serious concerns among the public and other businesses in Bolton.
In return for this money Councillor Morris says he has a guarantee that 263 jobs will be retained for five years and that our local economy will be £10 million better off. The promise of £10 million to the economy is nothing more than pie in the sky. Generating income for a private company has little impact on the local economy.
The really serious aspect of this charade however is Councillor Morris’s use of ‘emergency powers’ to circumvent the normal scrutiny of council decisions. So far as we know the grant was given after Asons had moved, so if it really was for relocation costs then there was clearly no emergency. I suspect that ‘emergency powers’ was without discussion at normal committees to avoid the public criticism being directed at Councillor Morris.
Councillor Morris has lost the trust of the public and surely his position as leader of the council is now untenable. I call on him to do the honourable thing and resign.
Councillor Bob Allen
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