Liberal Democrats call for all-party cabinet for Wirral

Oct 12 2011 by Liam Murphy, Birkenhead News

WIRRAL'S Liberal Democrats have called for an all-party cabinet as doubts over council leadership continue to intensify.

The move echoes demands from the Conservatives who had already submitted a motion to full council calling for leader Steve Foulkes to be removed from the top job.

When the council meets next Monday (October 17) the Lib Dems, who hold the balance of power on the hung council, will have a choice between supporting the existing Labour minority leadership or allowing the Tories to take control.

The Conservatives, with 27 seats out of 66 on the authority, would need the help of the Liberal Democrats to out-vote Labour’s 30 councillors and force through any changes..

In his notice to the council, Cllr Harney says “a ‘business as usual approach’ will simply not do and that a radical and politically brave solution is needed”.

He also called for “an emergency All Party Unity Cabinet” to be set up to deal with the “corporate governance crisis” engulfing the council in the wake of Anna Klonowski’s report into how former employee and whistleblower Martin Morton’s case was handled.