LABOUR have failed in their bid to take
control of Warrington Borough Council despite being the largest party
following the local elections, leading to claims from Labour leader Terry
O’Neill that Tory members had “taken their pieces of silver” instead of
listening to the voters.
A move by Labour leader Terry O’Neill and his deputy Mike Hannon to oust Lib Dem leader Ian Marks (Pictured right) and his deputy, Tory leader Keith Bland failed following a secret ballot by 29 votes to 26 with one councillor abstaining and one Labour councillor stranded on holiday!
Disappointed Coun O’Neill (pictured left) hit out at the Tories and accused them of “taking their pieces of silver” instead of listening to the people of Warrington, refering to their paid “cabinet” positions.
He accused the controlling Lib Dems and Tories of creating an “unholy alliance,” adding: “The Tories have voted with their wallets and taken their pieces of silver.
“We look forward to campaigning for the people of Warrington as a responsible opposition and with our larger numbers now it will be very difficult for any unpopular decisions to get through.”
On election night, Tory Coun Paul Kennedy made no secret of the fact that had always opposed the Lib Dem-Tory partnership in Warrington and believed it should end. He attacked the Lib Dems for running what he described as a “dishonest, disgraceful and disgusting” election campaign.
Commenting on the decision he said: “I am disappointed but not surprised. Everyone knows my views as they have been well documented and I will continue to work for the good of the people of Warrington, whoever is in control of running the town hall.”
Coun Bland (Pictured right) refuted the claims the Tories were “taking their pieces of silver,” saying: “When you look at how people voted around 31,000 voted Labour, 30,000 Lib dem and around 25,000 Conservative. That tells you most people voted for the existing administration and we have a duty to serve the people who voted for us.”
Coun Marks added: “We were in exactly the same position four years ago and we are very proud of the achievements we have made.
“There is a lot of unfinished work to be done and we want to carry on with what we have set out to do.
“The people know public finances are in a complete mess and all three parties nationally have been guilty of not coming out with the full facts on what savings need to be made.Whichever party is in control some tough decisions have got to be made.
“There are some very tough decisions to make and it is no good pretending otherwise.”
Labour picked up five seats in the council elections – four from the Lib Dems and one from the Tories.
Meanwhile the first act of the council’s annual meeting was to elect Labour’s Coun John Joyce as the new Mayor of Warrington, with Lib Democrat Coun Ted Finnegan as his deputy.
A full report and pictures of Mayor Making will be updated later.
13 Comments
Cllr Bland…… ‘most’ people did NOT vote for the existing administration at all… there was NO box on the voting forms to do that. People voted Labour OR Lib Dem OR Conservative. What a ridiculous statement to make ! PS I shall not be voting Conservative again as I thought you all had a bit more backbone and would at least honour your voters preferances !!
As expected, Cllr Bland has clung to his seat at the cost of his parties credibility.
And Cllr Marks has acted in accordance with his own particularly unusual and odd form of democracy. Both totally out of sync with their national parties’ reasoning that……’.the party with the most seats should be the party in power’ …unsuprisingly hypocritical !!!!!
Did either of you expect the Tories to align themselves with Labour? They should have taken the lead of Councillor Kennedy and abstained. They could then vote with either of the other two as and when a vote is necessary.
Isn’t it the quality of the councillor that counts not the party they represent?
Indeed…. this just about shows the quality of councillors we have.
I didn’t expect the Tories and Labour to join forces and that was never on the cards anyway. It’s just after however many years of Lib Dem decisions (many of which the conservatives said they didn’t agree with either) the Cons themselves have very ‘kindly’ voted the Libs back in FULL Charge for us all. I say FULL charge as that is where they seem to have been regardless of the so called previous alliance ! Once can be classed as a mistake… twice !?!??!
Two disappointments in one week, how frustrating. I support cllr kennedy in his stance, and was supportive of my associations stance over the lib dem approach to their campaign. we clearly know we can't trust them, and the conservatives in warrington are just setting themselves up for another administration which will see them take the blame for all the unpopular and poor decisions; whilst the Marks'ists…. tell us yet again how nothing is their fault and everything good in ourtown is due to them!
While I don’t disagree with any of the above comments, they ignore two things. 1, the situation is almost exactly the same as it was when the “alliance” was set up some six years ago. 2, It would have looked a bit incongruous for the Lib Dems and Tories to split in Warrington at the same time as they were coming together nationally!
In addition to that, Labour were not exactly making a good job of running the town and have made an even worse job of being an opposition.
So if the Conservatives CLEARLY KNOW that they can’t trust the Lib Dems and also KNOW that they are setting themselves up for getting all the blame for any bad and unpopular decisions that are made (which of course there will be many) then WHY ON EARTH have they voted to stayed in the same bed with them. Voters will always remember the BAD decisions first which could be why Labour gained so many new votes this time round ! Talk about the Cons putting a noose around their own necks whilst standing one footed on a very high and wobbly platform ! Of course I could be completely wrong 🙂
Keith Bland is either Niave,blind or downright stupid to join alliance with the Liberal Democrats after their dirty tricks general election campaign and their conduct at Stockton Heath Parish Council. You might as well sleep with the enemy Mr Bland because your Political Career is now over !!!
I don’think we can make direct comparisons with the national alliance. the local ld psrty fought an election planned to mislead. I suspect thzt the lib dem campaigners were happy with the approach until they realised that they were going to loose; these are the same folk that we are now seeking a working partnership with! if they truly believe that they are power-sharing, then why did the very same people not support an analogous relatioship at parish level? cake and eat it I think.
With the country being led by a LIbCon pact why would anyone want Warrington to revert to Labour control? Which ever party is in control it wont stop the trough being topped up every year.
BTW, Bland is not either naive, blind or stupid. He is desperate to hang on to his remuneration.
actually eagle the country is led by a CONDEM coallition, the town is being led by a LIBCON pact, spot the difference?
difference spotted…… locally a PACT ‘ a formal agreement, a treaty or a bargain’ …. nationally a COALITION ‘ a group of usually two to six males that drive off and replace the males in a pride in order to mate with the females and protect the resulting offspring’….. Lions that is of course 🙂
Condem
nice one dizzy! Trust you to get the dictionary out, I was working more on a play on words, but I like your version :)’ It still comes down to who shafts who! I just fail to understand why the electors can’t see through the local yellow peril. I suppose if some in my own prty can’t, how can I expect the voters to see it.