Wirral Council’s political deadlock breaks

May 21 2008 by Alan Weston, Liverpool Daily Post

THE deadlock over who should run Wirral Council was broken late last night – with the party holding the largest number of seats frozen out of power.

In a shock move, the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups agreed to join forces to form an administration.

This was despite the Lib-Dem leader, Cllr Simon Holbrook, saying last week that such a power-sharing arrangement with Labour had become “untenable” after the Conservatives became the single largest party on the authority.

The deal was finally reached after a marathon two-day meeting of the authority.

It means Cllr Steve Foulkes remains council leader, with Cllr Holbrook becoming deputy leader. Cabinet seats will be split 50-50 between the two groups.

The Tory leader, Cllr Jeff Green, said last night it was “a dark day for democracy”.

He added: “Almost 40,000 voters from across Wirral have been kicked in the teeth. Labour hasn’t listened and the Liberal Democrats have proved they can’t be trusted.

“There is no longer any difference in this borough between Labour and Liberal Democrats. They support each other to overrule the wishes of the electorate.

“It is a dark day for democracy in Wirral but they cannot keep running away from the electorate.”

The stalemate arose following the local council elections on May 1, where the Tories snatched four seats. This made them the largest single party on the authority with 24 councillors, but still well short of the 34 needed to hold a majority.

Labour were beaten into second place with 21 councillors, and the Lib-Dems came third with 20.

However, attempts by the Tories to form a new administration proved fruitless as the other parties voted against it.

Last night, Cllr Holbrook said: “We offered the Conservatives the leadership of the council in a shared administration, but the opportunity was not grasped and we had reached the end of that road. Despite our reservations this was the best deal we could secure on behalf of the people of Wirral.”

alanweston