New Lancaster City Council leader elected after 11th hour Labour, Greens and Lib Dems deal

Monday, 22 May 2023 20:23

By Greg Lambert @greglam72

Councillor Phillip Black, the new leader of Lancaster City Council.

A new leader of Lancaster City Council has been elected after an 11th hour deal between Labour, the Greens and Liberal Democrats.

Councillor Phillip Black, leader of the Labour group, was voted in as the new leader on Monday evening.

The former leader, Councillor Caroline Jackson of the Greens, will be his deputy.

This came after Labour, Greens and Liberal Democrats agreed to work together to form the Lancaster City Council cabinet - with the Greens saying the deal was done "with just minutes to spare".

The cabinet will be made up of five Labour councillors, four Greens and one Lib Dem.

Councillors who will occupy the various cabinet roles have yet to be announced in full, although the Greens have confirmed that Tim Hamilton-Cox (Finance), Nick Wilkinson (Economic Development), Caroline Jackson (Housing) and group leader Gina Dowding (Climate Emergency) will be part of the cabinet.

Councillor Black, who represents Scale Hall ward, was voted in by the majority of councillors present at the Annual Lancaster City Council meeting at Morecambe Town Hall - with only the five Conservative councillors abstaining.

Afterwards, he said: "It has been a long and quite difficult meeting process between the three groups, but I'm happy that we managed to come to an agreement for the good of the district, before (tonight's) meeting was called."

The final results at the Lancaster City Council elections earlier this month, saw Labour win 24 seats, the Greens 21, Lib Dems 7, Conservatives 5, Morecambe Bay Independents 3 and Independents 1.

This meant no political group had overall control, so a deal needed to be done to form a cabinet, which was previously run by Labour, Green and independent councillors.

In recent years there has been tension between the Labour and Green groups - including when following her defeat in the elections, outgoing Labour leader Erica Lewis took a parting shot at the Greens.

County Councillor Lewis, who was replaced by Councillor Caroline Jackson as city council leader in 2021, said that in the past two years she hadn't "seen the leadership that I would expect".

But speaking on Monday night, Councillor Gina Dowding (pictured below), said: "I'm relieved that we've got an agreement in place.

"The more views there are, the more that you can bring people together. That's how the last administration started.

"I think some of the problems in the previous administration were around specific issues that have been resolved."

Councillor Peter Jackson (pictured below), the new leader of the Lib Dems on the council, said confirmation of his party's involvement in the deal came on Sunday night.

"At about 8.30 I had a call from the leader of the Greens, saying there was no agreement between them and Labour, and they wanted to go back to the offer made previously to have three parties run the council," said Councillor Jackson.

"We agreed that the council would be run by three parties in conjunction. That's why Phillip Black was elected as leader unopposed.

"I'm proud we've got to this point and that we've given the council a secure administration."

But Councillor Andrew Gardiner, leader of the Conservatives on the council (pictured below), told Beyond Radio he thought the new alliance was like "the Phil and Holly show" - likening the Labour and Greens relationship to the recent fall-out between TV presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.

Andrew Gardiner

"There will be turbulent waters ahead and it's not good for the people of this district," said Councillor Gardiner.

"The people need decisions but based on past history, you'll have two political parties (Labour and Greens) at each other's throats."

Also at Monday's meeting, new chairs of Lancaster City Council committees were elected as follows:

Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Brett Cooper (Morecambe Bay Independents - MBIs)

Budget and Performance Panel - Ross Hunter (Liberal Democrats) who defeated Keith Budden (Conservatives) with 44 votes

Planning Regulatory - Sandra Thornberry (Labour)

Licensing - Sally Maddocks (Green)

Personnel - Chris Harris (Labour)

Appeals - Cath Armistead (Labour)

Audit - Paul Stubbins (Green)

Standards - Hamish Mills (Green)

Business - David Whitaker (Labour)

The meeting was the first to be chaired by Councillor Roger Dennison in his new role as mayor of Lancaster.

Councillor Dennison, an MBI, will also retain his role as council Armed Forces Champion.

The role of council Disabilities Champion will go to Councillor Abi Mills, a Green, who defeated Councillor Claire Cozler of Labour 25-24 in a narrow vote.

Councillor Dowding had initially asked if councillors Mills and Cozler could share the role, but following consultation on the rules with council officers, a vote was held to decide the new champion.

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