The following motions have been received in accordance with Procedure Rule 16:

1.            The following motion has been received from Councillor T Huffer and supported by             Councillors A Boddington, R Huffer and V Parry

Shropshire Council has an important role in supporting communities across the county. Resilient communities enhance the quality of life, promote wellbeing and reduce costs to the social care and health sectors. The council has been reducing its support for communities in the face of budget cuts. This includes cuts to the community enablement team and threats to abolish Local Joint Committees. Vital support for youth budgets and for early help through the Sure Start community centres has been cut.

This Council instructs the Chief Executive to develop a strategy for the Council to positively promote its engagement with the diverse communities across Shropshire, taking account of its rurality and levels of deprivation. 

2.         The following motion has been received from Councillor A Phillips and supported by Councillors D Carroll, D Turner, S Harris and R Gittins:

This Council abhors racism in all forms and is particularly concerned at the rise in profile and frequency of antisemitism nationally.

Shropshire Council wishes to join with the Government and other local authorities across the UK in signing up to the internationally recognised International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance guidelines on antisemitism which define antisemitism thus:

“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, towards Jewish Community institutions and religious facilities.”

Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic. Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong.” It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms and action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.

Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:

·           Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.

·           Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonizing or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective - such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.

·           Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.

·           Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust)

·           Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.

·           Accusing Jewish citizens as being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations

·           Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g. by claiming that the existence of the State of Israel is a racist endeavour.

·           Applying double standards by requiring of it a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.

·           Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis.

·           Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis

·           Holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the state of Israel.

This Council therefore resolves to:

1)    Restate its condemnation of all forms of racism in all its manifestations

2)    Adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism as the working model for challenging and confronting incidents of this form of racism.

3)    Asks the Chief Executive to look to adopt similarly agreed definitions to confront and challenge all forms of racism and discrimination that exist within our society.

a)    The following motion has been received from Councillor T Huffer and supported by Councillors A Boddington, R Huffer and V Parry.

‘Shropshire Council has an important role in supporting communities across the county. Resilient communities enhance the quality of life, promote wellbeing and reduce costs to the social care and health sectors. The council has been reducing its support for communities in the face of budget cuts. This includes cuts to the community enablement team and threats to abolish Local Joint Committees. Vital support for youth budgets and for early help through the Sure Start community centres has been cut.

This Council instructs the Chief Executive to develop a strategy for the Council to positively promote its engagement with the diverse communities across Shropshire, taking account of its rurality and levels of deprivation’. 

An amended Motion was proposed by the Leader of the Council, Councillor P Nutting and seconded by Councillor J Barrow, as follows:

‘Shropshire Council has an important role in supporting communities across the county.  Resilient communities enhance the quality of life, promote wellbeing and reduce costs to the social care and health sectors.  Some elements of this support have come under financial pressure as a result of the wider need for the Council to make savings from its revenue budget.

This Council requests the appropriate Overview and Scrutiny Committee to look at the sustainability of this area through a Task and Finish Group and use this work to inform a report by the Chief Executive’.

On debating the amended Notice of Motion, it was accepted that new methodology needed to be agreed and established in 2019, the Constitution of Local Joint Committees needed to be revisited and and, to this end, a Scrutiny Task and Finish Group needed to be established in order for a collaborative piece of work to take place by the Communities Overview and Place Overview Committees. 

RESOLVED:

That the following Notice of Motion be supported:

Shropshire Council has an important role in supporting communities across the county.  Resilient communities enhance the quality of life, promote wellbeing and reduce costs to the social care and health sectors.  Some elements of this support have come under financial pressure as a result of the wider need for the Council to make savings from its revenue budget.

This Council requests the appropriate Overview and Scrutiny Committee/s to look at through a Task and Finish Group and devises a strategy for engaging with the diverse communities of the County and use this work to inform a report by the Chief Executive.

b)    The following motion has been received from Councillor A Phillips and supported by Councillors D Carroll, D Turner, S Harris and R Gittins:

This Council abhors racism in all forms and is particularly concerned at the rise in profile and frequency of antisemitism nationally.

Shropshire Council wishes to join with the Government and other local authorities across the UK in signing up to the internationally recognised International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance guidelines on antisemitism which define antisemitism thus:

“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, towards Jewish Community institutions and religious facilities.”

Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic. Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong.” It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms and action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.

Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:

·           Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.

·           Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonizing or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective - such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.

·           Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.

·           Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust)

·           Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.

·           Accusing Jewish citizens as being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations

·           Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g. by claiming that the existence of the State of Israel is a racist endeavour.

·           Applying double standards by requiring of it a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.

·           Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis.

·           Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis

·           Holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the state of Israel.

This Council therefore resolves to:

1)    Restate its condemnation of all forms of racism in all its manifestations

2)    Adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism as the working model for challenging and confronting incidents of this form of racism.

3)    Asks the Chief Executive to look to adopt similarly agreed definitions to confront and challenge all forms of racism and discrimination that exist within our society.

RESOLVED:

That the Notice of Motion be supported.