SO THE council leader has never walked out of a council meeting? He may not have staged a protest as such, but he was certainly in and out of that chamber like the proverbial fiddler’s elbow.

The Labour group regularly behaved in a ridiculous fashion - voting en masse against budgets and generally filling the chamber with hot air. A pointless exercise, keeping council officers in their seats for five or six hours. Don’t give us this garbage about democracy, please. The Labour party does not recognise democracy or otherwise they’d allow a discussion on the appointment of this academic, whoever he is.

The problem of not answering questions is more fundamental. It could mean they don’t know the answers or are too lazy to do their own research (relying on officers) or it could mean that they prefer to stifle debate and want meetings over as quickly as possible. The real reason is that they can get away with not answering questions on the city centre redevelopment, the bus station; the budget overspend - any number of things. They’re almost not accountable and it’s staggering that one of them actually believes decisions are not taken behind closed doors! How innocent.

Carmel Townsend, St Julians Road, Newport