Telford & Wrekin Council could commission Brexit impact report

The seven-member panel of Telford & Wrekin Council will decide what topics the borough’s back-bench scrutiny committees should discuss next year.

One suggestion, titled The Impact of Brexit on the Council, reads: “Scrutiny is asked to review the council’s resilience to deal with Brexit and any mitigation required”.

In the 2016 referendum on EU membership, Telford and Wrekin residents voted 63.2 per cent to leave.

This week both Telford MP Lucy Allan and The Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard, voted against Prime Minister Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement.

Miss Allan has called on the Government to pursue a 'no deal' Brexit, while Mr Pritchard has asked the Prime Minister to attempt to re-negotiate with the EU to secure a more favourable arrangement.

The report request is one of two submitted and considered for inclusion in the 2019-20 year.

The other asks the scrutiny system to consider why Telford and Wrekin’s NHS Clinical Commissioning Group have not made “flash glucose monitoring” technology available to patients, while it is available in approximately 65 per cent of England and Wales.

In her report for the Scrutiny Management Board, council democratic and scrutiny services team leader Deborah Moseley writes: “The board should decide whether or not to recommend either or both items be added to the work programme of the relevant scrutiny committee.”

"In doing so, the board should consider factors including “how far scrutiny can realistically change or influence things” and “the extent to which residents or businesses are affected by the issue”.

The Scrutiny Management Board will discuss the report and the suggested topics when it meets on Thursday, January 24.

By Alex Moore, Local Democracy Reporter