Wirral’s Labour leader fights off vote of no confidence

Oct 19 2011 by Liam Murphy, Heswall News

THE Labour leader of Wirral Council survived a vote of no confidence forced on him by the Tory opposition.

The council’s Liberal Democrat group joined Labour to vote against the Conservatives’ call for Cllr Steve Foulkes to step down on Monday night in the wake of a damning report.

Lib Dem leader Tom Harney said this was the time for “building relationships not destroying them”, despite his party’s earlier call for radical changes to the council’s leadership structures.

The Tories and Lib Dems had both previously called for the introduction of an all-party cabinet to deal with the damning Klonowski report into how the council is run, which found it was not being managed adequately.

Tory leader Jeff Green told the council meeting in Wallasey town hall the Labour leader had “slumbered”, allowing failures identified by external consultant Anna Klonowski to occur.

Calling for an all-party cabinet, he said: “More of the same will not do – the council needs to change.”

Cllr Harney said the issues raised by Cllr Green were “serious ones” but told Cllr Foulkes this was a “golden opportunity” to involve councillors, staff and the public in dealing with the authority's problems.

Cllr Foulkes said he was “humbled” and admitted he had considered his position as council leader.

He accused Cllr Green of attempting to make political capital out of the situation the authority finds itself in and said he would work with the other parties – but not in an all-party cabinet. During a near three-hour debate, many members of the council spoke up before the Lib Dems helped the Labour group – who control Wirral Council in a minority administration – to outvote the Tories.