Lib Dem leader looks at Wirral Council’s political pact’s progress

Nov 12 2008 by Matt Hurst, Birkenhead News

Lib Dem group leader Simon Holbrook

SIX months ago, Wirral’s local elections threatened to change the peninsula’s political map, as the Lib/Lab pact appeared doomed by Conservative gains.

In a series of interviews, Wirral News asks each party leader how they view progress since the resurrection of the Lib/Lab pact, and the sidelining of Conservative hopes of power.

MAY’S elections produced a mixed bag for the Liberal Democrats, but eyebrows were raised when the party fell back into the Lib/Lab pact despite indicating otherwise.

Lib Dem leader, Cllr Simon Holbrook told the News: “The Conservatives delivered the maximum of what I was expecting them to do, while Labour reached my worst case prediction for them.We had somewhere in the middle.”

The party’s initial response was to distribute a statement saying the joint administration with Labour was over, and inviting Conservatives to put forward plans. But a week later, this strategy was abandoned and the Lib Dems decided to return to power with a bruised Labour party.

Cllr Holbrook explained: “The Conservatives felt they should run the council on the basis of holding 24 wards out of 66, accepting no restraint at all in respect of their right to rule.We thought Labour, having taken a bit of a beating, might want a period in opposition to regroup.

“What took us by surprise was they hadn’t thought about that and were still up for continuing.This combination meant something that wasn’t a possibility suddenly became one.”

Cllr Holbrook said Conservative leader, Cllr Jeff Green “had the opportunity to become leader of the council” but “declined it”, and called the Tory wish to form a minority administration with just 24 wards out of 66, “undemocratic”.

He said Labour’s poor performance was a result of a “big loss of confidence nationally” and denied it was a reflection on the Lib/Lab pact, adding “if it was a vote of no confidence, we would have both suffered”.

Cllr Holbrook said he was pleased with his party’s progress, but conceded there is “a lot of ground to make up in areas outside these wards”.

He felt the priority for the council was to secure investment, adding “we must not allow short-term economic problems to put us off that”.

l Next week Labour and council leader, Cllr Steve Foulkes