Fife councillors scrap voting rights for religious representatives

Councillors voted by 36 votes to 32 to remove the right which has previously been given to three representatives sitting on education committees.

Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay Councillor David Barratt, who moved for the removal of voting rights, said it was about democracy not religion or politics.

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"The public has a reasonable expectation that the people ultimately responsible for the decisions of the council are accountable to the public," he said.

"Those that make decisions of the council are accountable to the public. Those that make decisions who put themselves to the electorate and be judged on their record. Ultimately, unelected representatives having a vote undermines that process.

"I do understand that in a historical context of the catholic church in particular but there is nothing that explicitly says that their involvement must include voting rights.

"There is also no proposal on the table to remove their special position on the council committee."

READ MORE: Fife Council to look at right to vote for religious representatives

Rosyth councillor Sam Steele backed the call, saying there was "simply no justification" for Fife Council to continue to allow voting rights to religious representatives.

"Only those who have been voted in democratically should have the power to vote on decisions on local schooling and education matters," she said. "Times have changed, demographics have clearly changed and it is time today for Fife Council to change."

Labour councillor Altany Craik had urged his fellow members to continue with the current arrangements, which were agreed in 2022, until the next electoral term.

"We, as members, need to see what is a suitable and fair response to this issue," he said. "The amendment has not taken into account a wider message which may be unwittingly sent that the third largest local authority in Scotland is acting in a way that might be seen as sectarian and we want to avoid that.

"The motion tabled is to tread carefully and consider. It doesn't speak on a position on religious representatives, it speaks of fairness or process, legal uncertainty and a dialogue to look at what the future will be.

"We have all received numerous emails, letters, postcards and comments on this topic with one of our communities feeling particularly upset at the removal of voting rights.

"While most of our residents are unaware of or disinterested or agnostic on this matter, is it right to alarm a community in Fife in this way? I would say it is not.

"To me, the issue is one of haste and lack of consultation. We have made no effort to discuss this with impacted communities and stakeholders. We appointed representatives with the understanding that they would have voting rights and now we want to change this for no other reason than some of us voted to follow the actions of other councils apparently.

"We can act in haste and repent at leisure or we can take onboard the level of concern being expressed by our communities and postpone any change until the next administration by which time we will have had dialogue and discussion to explore our options and look for ways forward."

Conservative councillor Kathleen Leslie said taking away the voting rights was a "knee jerk" reaction.

"Other than the one generic letter from the Humanist Society, I have not received any correspondence to date calling for the voting rights of religious representatives to be removed here in Fife," she said.

"What we have here in Fife is an approach that has worked until now. Judging by the amount of emails, letters and postcards that have been sent by members of the Catholic Church in Fife, there is a strength of feeling and concern about an almost knee jerk reaction to fix something that does not actually need fixed."

Reacting to the decision, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh said “The Catholic community in Fife will be disappointed that the woman who represents them, Mary Caldwell, will no longer have a vote on decisions that affect their schools.

"It is estimated that around 2,000 people in Fife contacted councillors about this issue, asking them to support the Catholic community on this issue.”

A spokesman for the Church of Scotland said: “Every local authority has three places for a religious representative on the education committee.

“Church representatives have a wealth of experience and seek to be good community partners and offer support and encouragement.

“The key purpose is to support the best interests of young people and their education.

“Very few matters come to a vote and our representatives do not usually choose to vote on matters of policy or of a political nature.

“They are there to serve the wider community.”

The National Secular Society and the Humanist Society Scotland have both welcomed the decision.

Humanist Society Scotland's CEO Fraser Sutherland said: "It's right that Fife has made this sensible decision. Allowing unelected religious representatives to vote on matters affecting education policy is an anachronism, with no place in local government in the 21st century."

Head of campaigns for the National Secular Society, Megan Manson, added: "It’s fantastic that Fife has become the latest council to end the unfair voting privileges granted to religious representatives. 

“They are now the third Scottish council within the past two months to make this move. Momentum is clearly gathering across Scotland as more councillors realise that giving unelected religious appointees a vote is undemocratic and unequal."