Kirklees Council is still without a leader as the council chamber remains fractured and unable to unite behind a single candidate.
The council’s annual meeting resumed on Thursday night and Reform UK leader Clr Sarah Wood and Green group leader Clr Andrew Cooper both went for the leadership again but neither could secure sufficient votes.
The council opted for a ‘secret ballot’ to attempt to elect a leader. Councillors left the chamber and queued up to cast their vote for Clr Cooper and then Clr Wood.
Clr Cooper lost 29-37 and Clr Wood 29-35 with two abstentions.
Reform UK have 29 seats and are the biggest party while Clr Cooper also has the support of Kirklees Independents and the Liberal Democrats.
It is believed the Conservatives voted against both candidates, as they did last week, which has left a stalemate.
Liberal Democrat councillors believe there should have been a ‘head-to-head’ vote between the two candidates which would produce a winner. However, it seems the parties can’t agree on that either.
The meeting broke up with the council still without a leader. The council’s chief executive Steve Mawson remains in temporary charge until another meeting to try to elect a leader on July 15.
At last week’s meeting Clr Wood was accused of being ill-prepared when she admitted she didn’t understand council rules and procedures.
This time she was much more assured and after the meeting she said she felt the momentum was shifting in her direction.
“I’m glad that it’s done, and that we demonstrated that, even though we didn’t know what we were doing at first, we actually worked really hard between then and now and showed that we do know what we’re doing.”
Clr Wood praised her team for learning so quickly and added: “I’m also proud of the chamber because I felt a shift in the energy in there tonight.
“And even though they may not be fully on board, which is demonstrated by the secret ballot, there was a shift in the energy and it felt different.”
Clr Wood said collaboration was key and she wanted to reach out to other councillors and talk.
“I feel like there’s now a possibility for communication and that’s really all I could have hoped for.”
Clr Wood said she wanted to build trust but trust had to be earned.
Asked if she thought the council was “broken” she said: “I don’t think I would choose to say the council is broken. I think the council has opened up to the opportunities of the future.”
Clr Cooper said Reform didn’t have a mandate to run the council despite winning 29 of the 69 seats.
“They seem to think, for some reason best known to themselves, that they have a right to run the council. They don’t,” he said.
“They have 29 councillors out of 69. They got 30% of the vote. In Kirklees 70% of people didn’t want them. They do not have a mandate but they keep saying they do. And it’s just simply not true.”
With the council divided and positions entrenched, Clr Cooper was asked if there were any circumstances where he could work with Reform.
“That’s an issue, not just for me, but for every other group on the council,” he said. “It’s a question for the Independents, it’s a question for the Conservatives, it’s a question for the Lib Dems.
“And it’s actually a question for Reform. What is it about you, which means that other groups on the council won’t work with you?
“It’s really for them to answer why they haven’t convinced another party, another group of any sort, on this council, to get them over the line.”
Tory leader Clr John Taylor (Kirkburton) said residents now expected the two largest groups – Reform and the Greens – to move beyond political deadlock and focus on providing stable and effective leadership.
“They now have a responsibility to put aside tribal politics and egos and engage in serious and constructive discussions with one another in the interests of the people of Kirklees,” he said.
“I am therefore formally calling upon both parties to begin direct talks without delay and to use the coming weeks to reach an agreement that can provide stability, accountability and effective governance for the longer term.”
He added: “Both candidates have spoken repeatedly about working for the whole of Kirklees, representing all communities, and being willing to work across party lines.
“The time has now come to turn those words into action. Residents expect leadership, maturity and co-operation — and rightly so.”
At the start of the meeting there was an hour-and-a-half devoted to questions for the two leadership candidates.
Councillors from all parties asked a range of questions from the suitability of both to become leader to questions about council finances, house building on the Green Belt and services for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
Clr Wood said under her leadership the council would collaborate with other parties to deliver the best for the people of Kirklees. She pledged to work with all councillors cross-party and across ward boundaries.
She said she wanted to see the “basics done right.”
The problem, she said, was councillors. “The problem is us,” she said. “We have to find a way to change the culture and work together.”
Clr Wood likened the council budget to a household budget where it was about making ends meet. Clr Cooper said it was way more complicated than that.
Clr Cooper denied claims that Reform had a “mandate” and said Reform had 42% of councillors but only 30% of the vote so were “over-represented” on the council.
Clr Wood retorted that the Greens only had 18% of the vote.
“I don’t think the public believes we are under-represented on the council,” she said. “We are here, we are worthy, we are willing and we are not deterred.
“You have no reason not to trust us. We offer you the opportunity to test us, scrutinise us.”
Clr Charles Greaves, leader of the Holme Valley Independents, asked for the two candidates’ views on the Fair Funding Settlement, referring to a new way the Government has funded local authorities this year, taking into account measures of poverty and deprivation. Because of that Kirklees received £14 million extra from the Government.
Clr Wood admitted she didn’t know what the Fair Funding Settlement was.
Clr Cooper explained it but said the council had had to find an extra £15 million for adult social care due to rising demand and costs, negating the extra £14 million at a stroke.
The meeting itself passed off without tension with councillors respectful of eachother across the council chamber.
However, there were heated exchanges and raised voices in the corridor afterwards as two Independent councillors clashed. One angrily stormed away down the stairs.
