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Second attempt at forming alliance for Council leadership fails
22/05/2023
Labour says there were red lines that simply couldn’t be crossed
Talks in an attempt to break the stalemate over who will lead Cherwell District Council appear to have failed. Sean Woodcock, the Leader of the Labour Group at Cherwell, says that following extensive negotiations there were “red lines that simply could not be crossed”.
Cherwell District Council’s Annual Meeting is set to resume tomorrow evening (Tuesday) but now with no agreement on an alliance in place, either the impasse will continue, or the Conservatives will be successful in another bid to remain in control, if any of the other parties abstain from the vote or vote for them.
Councillor Woodcock said: “Despite lots of speculation and noise on social media, I’ve kept silent on the current stalemate at Cherwell District Council.
“That’s because over the last few days Banbury Labour have conducted extensive negotiations with the Liberal Democrat leadership to find a way forward.
“In order to achieve this, a number of concessions were made on our part to facilitate a solution. I’m sorry for the people of Cherwell that our willingness to act in their best interest has not been reciprocated by the Lib Dems. As a result of their pettiness, the Conservatives will likely continue to run the council.
“After this debacle it will become clear to voters that the Labour Party is the only truly progressive party in Cherwell.
“The Labour Party will continue to work tirelessly in support of our residents.”
Last week Conservative Barry Wood made several attempts to retain his leadership of the Council, but in the face of the Conservatives now having less than half the Council’s seats, he was voted down several times. A bid for the role by Labour’s Sean Woodcock was also defeated.
Liberal Democrat David Hingley, who is part of the Progressive Oxfordshire Group (Lib Dems, Greens and Independent), proposed the long meeting be adjourned for a week so negotiations with Labour could continue. Now this appears to have come to nothing.
The Guardian newspaper yesterday reported that the Labour party faced accusations of overcentralised meddling after the party’s national executive vetoed planned coalitions with the Liberal Democrats or Greens in a series of formerly Conservative-held local authorities.
The paper said it is longstanding Labour policy that local parties need a green light from the national executive committee before forming coalitions and reported that some activists were saying attempts to block deals risked allowing the Conservatives to regain control instead.
Banbury FM put this point to Councillor Woodcock who told us: “The breakdown in talks is because it became clear locally and nationally that the Liberal Democrats and Greens had done a deal before a single vote had been cast.
“We cannot countenance voters being treated with such contempt so despite moves on our part to compromise, there were red lines that simply could not be crossed.”
Councillor Barry Wood last week confirmed to Banbury FM he would again put himself forward to lead the Council should alliance talks fail. This afternoon he said: “The custom and practice in local government is that if there is no arrangement between the parties then the largest one needs to form what is known as a “minority administration” and we are ready to do that in the interest of residents.
“In short, somebody must step up to the plate”
Banbury FM has contacted the Progressive Oxfordshire Group for a comment on the situation.
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam