Labour is set to take over the running of Bolton Council next week after becoming the largest party in last week’s elections. The council is set to elect its leader on Tuesday, May 16, with the Labour group Nick Peel in pole position to take over the leadership in a minority controlled administration.
The ‘all out’ elections to decide who runs the borough saw Labour gain seats from the Conservatives to finish the night with 26 councillors, the Tories, who previously controlled the council lost 10 seats and now have 16. The Liberal Democrats gained a seat to leave them with six councillors and Horwich and Blackrod Independent’s swept the board in the town to leave them with six members, tripling their group’s number at the Town Hall.
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One Kearsley took all three seats in the Kearsley ward and Farnworth and Kearsley First now have two members, down from three. There is one independent member, Derek Bullock, in Hulton.
The current leader of the council is Conservative Martyn Cox, who retained his seat last week and still leads the group. He has led Bolton Council since the death of previous Conservative leader David Greenhalgh in August 2021.
However, he has made it clear he does not envisage staying in the role after next Tuesday. He told the BBC’s North West Politics show: “The council is in no overall control at the moment but given the relative size of the Labour group and and the size of the Conservative group I think it’s a reasonable conclusion to draw that I will no longer lead the council.”
On Friday, Coun Nick Peel said he expected to form an administration provided the independent parties and Lib Dems did not make a decision to use their votes to prop up the previous Conservative administration. However, with Labour short of an overall majority, having only 26 of the 60-strong council, there are still several scenarios which could play out at next week’s vital meeting.
One route would be for Labour to propose Coun Peel as leader, which the Conservatives would likely oppose, with some of the other groups abstaining from the vote, giving Labour the edge. Another scenario could see some kind of informal working arrangement between Labour and one or more of the other party blocs, which would give them the requisite number of 30 plus one to win a majority in the vote for leader.
The Conservatives could also use the same ploy, but that outcome seems highly unlikely given Coun Cox’s comments at the weekend. The meeting to elect the leader of the council will take place on Tuesday, May 16 at 7pm at Bolton Town Hall.
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