I reported yesterday LINK that Muhammed Butt had turned down the recommendation that there be a public internal inquiry into the disturbances at the Euro2020 Final made by Scrutiny Committee. My report was based on the speech he made at Cabinet in response to the presentation by Scrutiny Chair, Cllr Roxanne Mashari, in which he made no reference to accepting the recommendation, where no other Cabinet member took part and the proposal not put to the Cabinet for a vote to be taken.
This is the Cabinet decision sheet that contains the official account of his speech LINK:
Councillor Mashari, Chair of the Resources & Public Realm Scrutiny Committee, provided an update on the discussions held at the Resources & Public Realm Scrutiny Committee meeting on 16 July 2021 regarding the scenes witnessed around Wembley Stadium in advance of the UEFA 2020 European Championship Final. She advised that as well as focussing on the impact upon local residents, the Committee had also been particularly concerned at reports of injuries along with issues identified relating to public safety and public health and how this may affect arrangements for the hosting of future events at the Stadium. Cabinet were advised that the Committee had taken evidence from relevant officers and stakeholders during their meeting and had welcomed the information provided. As a result of the concerns expressed, however, the Committee had recommended that Cabinet hold a public review into the Council’s actions taken before, during and after the Final to establish the lessons learnt.
Councillor M Butt, as Leader of the Council, thanked Councillor Mashari for her contribution and in response began by highlighting the need for care to be taken in terms of the accuracy of any statements made relating to the events witnessed, given the current external independent review being led by Baroness Casey and nature of ongoing police prosecutions. The Council were fully cooperating and supporting the independent review and in order to avoid prejudicing the outcome of this and ongoing criminal prosecutions he advised it would not therefore be possible to comment in any more detail at this stage on the issues identified. Councillor M.Butt ended by highlighting the level of support provided by staff from across the Council in the staging of the tournament at Wembley Stadium and thanked all those involved on behalf of the Council for their efforts.
I think readers can see why I interpreted that as not agreeing to a internal public review as requested by Scrutiny. Usually decisions are recorded in the form: Cabinet 'RESOLVED', and then a record of the action points.
However Cllr Mashari tweeted this morning:
It is puzzling that Cllr Butt, as Leader of the Council, did not mention the two internal reviews in his Cabinet speech but they are very welcome and I am sure local residents would welcome a way to contribute.
