Rugby: Cabinet or Council ?

Local authorities used to make their decisions by the councillors working together on committees. The most important decisions were then sent to the full Council to debate and vote on. Rugby Borough Council used to operate on this model. The mayor's role was to be a figurehead for the town and to chair the meetings of the Council. To do this role effectively the mayor had to give up party politics for their year in office.

All this was changed by Tony Blair's Labour government in 2000. He forced local authorities to choose between two models. The first model was the local authority run by a political mayor - think of Boris Johnson or Ken Livingstone. The second model was the cabinet model in which some councillors took on responsibility for particular areas of policy. Rugby has chosen the second model.

As a result of the changes introduced in 2000 effectively there are two classes of councillor. Those who sit in the cabinet and make policy decisions and ward councillors who look after their local area. When the cabinet model was first introduced all three parties on Rugby Borough Council shared out the posts on the cabinet. In recent years all the cabinet posts have been taken by the conservatives.

This means that many decisions which twenty years ago were taken by the full Council after a discussion in committee are now taken by the cabinet. (Although controversial decisions taken by the cabinet can be "called-in" for review by the Council).

So sometimes when you want to know what Rugby Borough Council is up to you need to look at the decisions made by the full Council and sometimes you need to keep a very wary eye on what the cabinet itself is up to.