We received a complaint from a fellow councillor (“the Complainant”) that a Member (“the Member”) of Flintshire County Council (“the Council”) had breached the Code of Conduct (“the Code”), when he put forward, and asked his political party colleagues to consider, a generous donation which had been offered by a local businessman. The donation included substantial financial assistance to the Member’s political party, and financial help with the Member’s, and others’, political campaigns as candidates.
The donation offer was contingent on the Member’s party forming an alliance with another party to achieve a change in political leadership at the Council. The Complainant was concerned, among other things, that the offer was improper with serious consequences for the impartial running of the Council as well as being a potential criminal offence. The Complainant felt the Member had encouraged acceptance of the offer by his party colleagues when he should have immediately declined it.
We decided that an investigation was appropriate, given the serious nature of the allegations, and that the following paragraphs of the Code should be considered:
- 7(a) – [members] must not use [their] position improperly to confer on or secure for [themselves], or any other person, an advantage or create or avoid for [themselves], or any other person, a disadvantage.
- 6(1)(a) – [members] must not conduct [themselves] in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing [their] office or authority into disrepute.
- 9(b) – [members] must avoid accepting from anyone gifts, material benefits or services for [themselves], or any person, which might place [members], or reasonably appear to place [members], under an improper obligation.
We obtained information from the local party’s treasurer, the Police, the Electoral Commission (whose role it is to make sure political parties and candidates comply with legal requirements in regard to donations), the Complainant and the Member.
We found the offer was made to the political party, and to candidates in their campaigns, and not for the financial gain of any individuals personally. We saw no evidence to suggest the party, or members, were being asked to do anything improper, such as to make Council decisions that may favour the local business in return for the donation (although they were being asked to support another political party in a forthcoming election).
We found there was, however, a very clear appearance to the Complainant, and others, that acceptance of the offer may place them under an improper obligation, or in other words that the local businessman may have been expecting something improper in return for his generous financial donation.
Public confidence in the impartiality and integrity of a council’s decision making is severely undermined if there is any appearance of outside influence. The duties imposed on members are there not only to prevent any undue influence, but to prevent the appearance of any undue influence. In accordance with paragraph 9(b) of the Code for Members of Local Authorities, acceptance of the donation offer, given its substantial financial size and the appearance of personal inducements to candidates, had to be “avoided” because it gave the appearance of placing members under an improper obligation.
We found that no donation had ultimately been received or accepted, and no action had been taken by the Electoral Commission or the Police. We did not consider that the evidence showed that the Member had encouraged the acceptance of the offer, and after careful consideration we did not find that the evidence was suggestive of any breaches of the Code by the Member. However, we issued advice to the Member stressing he must take great care to avoid any appearance of undue influence or bias given how damaging this can be to public confidence in local democracy. We also advised the Member that he should undertake further training on the Code.