At the City Council AGM on Thursday May 21 no leader was elected by councillors despite Labour leader Katie Thornburrow being proposed twice. The two smaller parties, the Lib Dems and Greens, united to oppose her but refused to propose an alternative.
What happened at the meeting
The meeting started at 11am and the first business was the election of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. The newly elected Green councillor Maria Cleminson was elected as Mayor and Liberal Democrat councillor Amanda Taylor was elected as Deputy Mayor.
In the subsequent vote for Leader, the Lib Dems and Greens, along with former Labour councillor Dave Baigent, voted against Labour Group leader Katie Thornburrow but did not offer an alternative. After an extensive adjournment during which all three party groups discussed options that took account of the election result Labour proposed Katie Thornburrow again and for the second time the two opposing parties voted not to confirm her but offered no other proposal for leader.
The meeting was adjourned after five hours with no resolution and will reconvene at 6pm on Monday 1 June. The meeting closed with a warning from council officers that if there was no leader or cabinet by then, the Council could be in breach of the Local Government Act 2000.
The Labour Leader’s perspective
Speaking after the meeting Katie Thornburrow said “I am bitterly disappointed that the other parties have failed to consider the impact on the residents of Cambridge of not having a properly functioning City Council in these challenging times. Their behaviour today showed a complete disregard for everyone here, and instead they focused on playing politics. We have had close to two weeks of negotiations already, but the Lib Dems and Greens were incapable of making a decision yesterday.”
She also said: “We asked them twice to put forward their own nominees for leader and both times Lib Dem leader Tim Bick and Green leader Naomi Bennett refused the opportunity to lead. It is clear that they don’t trust each other at all and are only united by a desire to sabotage the council. We are prepared to run a minority Labour administration and collaborate with all councillors to get agreement on the big and contentious issues such as the budget, or to act as the official opposition to a Lib Dem/Green coalition. Labour would be very effective either way, but the Greens and Lib Dems don’t seem able to stop squabbling with each other and put the interests of Cambridge first.”
Tim Bick, the leader of the Lib Dems, and Green Councillor Safira Davison both suggested in the meeting that there is no urgency and this was all within the normal order of business, but that is incorrect. Without a council leader, cabinet members or committee positions agreed the usual decision-making processes of the council are in suspense.
Is this what the electorate of Cambridge voted for on May 7th?
What happens next?
Over the next week the parties will meet to try to agree a way forward so that it can be voted through at the meeting on June 1.
If there is an absolute vacuum where no political executive is validly in place, the council’s statutory officers, including the Chief Executive, the Monitoring Officer, and the Section 151 (Finance) Officer, step up. They handle all day-to-day operational, non-political administration using existing delegated powers. No new major political policies can be introduced during this “hung” period.
In the extreme, if the failure to elect a leader causes the council’s administrative functions to collapse, or if they fail to set a legal budget (which requires leadership), the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) can intervene.
All Labour councillors will be working hard to ensure that this does not happen, but not at the price of compromising our principles or putting the livelihoods of Cambridge residents at risk.