Thread by @ptresadern

With only days to go to the local elections, it has been noted that the "hard working" Salford Lib Dem councillors have barely shown up to meetings at all.

Let's take a look at what we mean 🧵

1/13

https://twitter.com/salford_mayor/status/1646768947952340992

Take this tweet from the Lib Dems councillors' leader, Cllr Alex Warren, in June last year.

This looks very much like Children's Scrutiny which took place on 8 June.

But...

2/13

...according to the records, Cllr Warren - who is on the committee - did not attend that meeting. (This has been confirmed by someone who was there.)

Nor has he attended *any* Children's Scrutiny meeting all year.

sccdemocracy.salford.gov.uk/documents/s528…

3/13

So which Lib Dems exactly are "working to improve services"?

And who took the photo?

And how did Cllr Warren get it in order to pretend he was at a meeting that he should have been at but wasn't?

At best this tweet is misleading; at worst, deliberately deceitful.

4/13

How about the meetings that the Salford Lib Dems did attend? (I won't even need two hands to count them.)

Full Council meetings are recorded and published online, which is helpful.

Luckily, both Lib Dem councillors also sit behind the Tories, and the Tories like to talk.

5/13

Let's play "Spot the Difference" from October 2022.

Before vs. after the coffee break:

6/13

"Spot the Difference", November 2022.

Before vs. after the coffee break:

7/13

"Spot the Difference", February 2022.

Before vs. after the coffee break:

8/13

"Spot the Difference", March 2022.

Before vs. after the coffee break:

Are you seeing a pattern yet?

9/13

Q: What is it about the coffee break that makes Lib Dem councillors mysteriously vanish?

A: That is the earliest they can bunk off and still be recorded as being "present" at the meeting.

10/13

Q: Why does that matter so much to them?

A: Because non-attendance at Full Council can get you kicked off the council mid-term.

In fact, it's one of the *only* ways a councillor can be removed mid-term.

11/13

Make no mistake: this is not laziness; this is deceit - these two have made a concerted and deliberate effort to conceal their lack of attendance.

With leadership like this, I would expect the same from any new Lib Dem councillors.

12/13

We may be stuck with these two charlatans, but we needn't be lumbered with more.

#VoteLabour on 4 May for representatives who actually desire, and intend, to serve their city's needs rather than have the city serve theirs.

13/13

(In case anyone's wondering why I didn't show December and January's meetings, there is no Full Council in December and neither Lib Dem councillor showed up at all to the January meeting. I didn't even need to cherry-pick.)

14/13