A local council for local people

[altariel]

There's a political row in the wake of Labour losing overall control of St Helens council.

In April, there was a cross-party agreement to appoint a long-term Conservative councillor as mayor. However, after the local elections, the council is split this way: Labour hold 24 seats, the Lib Dems 16, and the Tories 8. And the mayor has a casting vote.

The Labour group leader has put forward a motion to prevent the Conservative councillor from becoming mayor. Big council vote tonight - and the outgoing mayor, with the casting vote, is a Labour councillor.

Comments

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

Lack of competence on Labour's part, entering into such an agreement without a get-out clause in the case of a hung council. Earlier this year, Cambridge City Council adopted a policy of alternating the mayoralty between the two main parties, but with an explicit condition that this would not apply if the ruling group's majority was less than three. Labour, naturally, thought all this attention to detail was a bit sad and anoraky.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Possibly an assumption, too, that there was no way Labour would ever lose control of St Helens council.

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

I was including that assumption under "lack of competence".