LABOUR and Tory politicians have clashed over plans to open up the council's books to the public.

The Labour administration narrowly voted down a Conservative motion calling for new transparency rules to be welcomed, during a heated debate at Full Council on Thursday, July 8.

The rules, being formulated by the Lib Dem-Tory coalition government, could force local authorities to publish details of spending over £500, publish information on high-earning council officers, and released updated statistics on recycling rates and rubbish collections.

But Councillor Graham Henson, who is in charge of customer services in the new Labour cabinet, railed against the plans, labeling them “outrageous”, and accused the motion of being "ridiculous".

He said: “Do you really believe there are Harrow residents out there who are going to spend their evenings checking local authority websites?

“Some of these things don't need to be and should not be public.”

Deputy Tory leader Barry MacLeod-Cullinane, who proposed the motion which urged the council to make the information easily available on its website from the start of next year, said the rules will mean residents will be better informed.

Councillor John Cowan, (Cons/Canons) who chairs the committee which scrutinises the council's finances, attacked Cllr Henson's “appalling” response to the move.

He said: “If we feel there is one person out there who wants the information, we have a duty to give it to them.

“For Graham to say 'no' is appalling. Let the people be the judge, not you over there.”

The issue of council openness spilled over into other parts of the meeting, as Tories accused the new portfolio holders of answering questions using long-winded officer-written responses rather than knowing the answers themselves.

The meeting threatened to degenerate into farce after Councillor Susan Hall, leader of the Tories, asked deputy council leader Phil O'Dell whether his administration was considering signing up to the 10:10 carbon emissions reduction charter.

Cllr O'Dell spent the majority of his answer explaining what the 10:10 charter is before saying at the end that data was being collected ahead of a formal announcement. Cllr Hall retorted that her question had not been answered, and asked mayor Asad Omar to step in and force Cllr O'Dell to answer again.

Cllr O'Dell said he would provide a written answer to the question, and as the dispute continued, the time allocated for councillor questions ran out, leaving Cllr Hall “outraged” that her question had not been answered.

The row was one of many clashes between the two sides at last week's meeting.

Cllr Richard Romain (Cons/Canons) accused Labour of not releasing the council's risk register, showing the potential pitfalls of making millions of pounds of savings over the next couple of years.

And the two sides fought over who was to blame for a clause in the constitution which rendered the call-in procedure on cabinet decisions effectively impotent.

The Tories have set out there stall to firmly oppose Labour, while the administration aims to make changes to the way the council was run under the Conservatives. One thing is certain, the arguments and political point-scoring is not likely to end anytime soon.