Bitter exchanges as bid to oust former council leader is defeated

Nine councillors signed a Order No. 9 – Requisition Order to remove Conservative Mid-Berwickshire councillor Mark Rowley, SBC’s current executive member for Service Delivery and Transformation, from his high-profile portfolio position.

But a motion of no confidence was defeated by 17 votes to 11 when members of Scottish Borders Council met on Thursday, June 27.

The move came after Mr Rowley, council leader from November 2021 to May 2022, was banned from attending full council and the executive committee meetings for one month for breaching the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.

The ban came after he failed to declare his paid employment as a strategy manager with South of Scotland Enterprise (SoSE) at three council meetings held between February and August 2022, when matters concerning, or that could impact upon the work of SoSE, were being discussed.

During heated exchanges in the chamber, Conservative Councillor Euan Jardine, the current leader of SBC, launched a verbal barrage at those who had brought the motion.

He said Mr Rowley continued to have the council’s support and revealed that, as there was to be a restructuring of the Executive Committee in August, he saw “no need to change the executive structure at this time” and labelled the motion “petty politics”.

He added: “We’re not here to play politics and name-poke and stab people in the back, we are here to deliver for our communities.

“How much money has been spent on this requisition order? We’ve had to seek outside advice. That is money that could be spent going into our communities.

“I really am embarrassed that this is here. We need to get away from this petty politics. I am really distraught that we have worked hard for two years to build a bridge, to make this one of the best councils in the country in terms of working together, collaborating and delivering for our communities, and then to burn that bridge just to get a personal thing out the way.

“It’s absolutely disappointing. We’re adults in a room and we’re acting like children. I am deeply disappointed that elected members who have signed this have thrown away the hard work we have done to collaborate.”

In response, the SNP’s Councillor John PatonDay, one of the nine to sign the motion, said: “Councillor Jardine can throw his toys out the pram as much as he likes and accuse it of being political and personal. It is neither of those two things.

“We are spending a lot of time over what is really a simple problem to resolve. Take the case of a bank manager who finds himself accused of various misdemeanors, and then consider that those misdemeanors are proven.

“Do you obviously believe the bank manager would be or should be allowed to retain that position? It’s as simple as that.”

Councillor Rowley, who abstained in the vote, said: “I do not agree that this is not political because the timing of this in a pre-election period is political. The nature of the requisition order is political.

“Addressing Councillor PatonDay’s remark. Even though they were gently put they were discourteous and wrong. The sanction for breaching the code is in the hands of the Standards Commission. I have received their sanction, I have accepted it with good grace. I took that sanction which, effectively, was the prohibition to attend two meetings.

“It has been a long and hard two years and having that process stretched out for another month has not been welcome.”

The judgement was made following an online Standards Commission Panel hearing on Monday, May 13.

The Panel found that Mr Rowley should have declared an interest, withdrawn from the meetings and taken no part in the discussion and decision-making on the specific matters in question.

The nine elected members to have signed off the vote of no confidence are: Councillor Elaine Thornton-Nicol; Councillor Fay Sinclair; Councillor Viv Thomson: Councillor John PatonDay; Councillor Robin Tatler: Councillor James Anderson: Councillor Marshall Douglas; Councillor Neil Mackinnon and Councillor Donald Moffat.