Cllr Janette Williamson will remain leader of Wirral Council, despite her Labour group losing seats at the recent local elections.
In the May 5 vote, Labour lost two seats to the Greens and one to the Conservatives, leaving the party on just 26 of Wirral’s 66 seats. That is well short of a majority and just two ahead of the Conservatives.
But following talks between the four main parties, Cllr Williamson was backed unanimously to continue leading Wirral Council during tonight’s annual meeting at Wallasey Town Hall. Speaking tonight, Cllr Williamson said it was a “big honour” to get the unanimous support of the council.
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The Labour leader added: “It has been a difficult year for the council, but we are turning things around and I do believe we are making things better and we will continue to improve. It’s a huge honour to take on this role again.”
Cllr Williamson said she won’t let councillors down and won’t let residents down either. As well as Cllr Williamson’s election, her Labour colleague Cllr Jean Robinson was elected deputy leader of the council.
Leadership of the council was not the only issue on the table tonight. The annual meeting also had to choose who would chair key decision making committees, which shape policy in areas such as the environment, regeneration and adult social care.
It was thought the recent local elections could trigger important changes. For example, Labour retained the chair of the environment committee tasked with deciding the future of Hoylake beach.
If the party would have lost control of this committee to the Conservatives, it could have made it more likely that the beach would be raked with the goal of seeing ‘golden sands’ return. Ultimately, this was not the case and the leadership of key committees has remained with the same parties.
The first few committee meetings in the new municipal year, with the first being on June 7, could help to shed light on the impact the recent election has had.
Key developments to follow include whether or not the Green Party becomes more strident and demanding, given its three new councillors give it a greater mandate than it had previously. Another important trend to look out for will be regarding Labour.
Could the party have more difficulty getting its policies through committees now that it has slightly fewer councillors?
