Two councils in England still without leader two months on from May local elections

Two months after local elections in May, two councils in England are without a leader or ruling party, further evidence of Britain’s fragmented political landscape.

Elections on 7 May resulted in 64 local authorities (nearly half of those running this year) failing to secure a majority of seats for a single party, leaving them in a situation known as “no overall control”.

As a result of agreements between local parties, administrations were formed in almost all of these councils, and many were governed by one or more groups on a minority basis.

But repeated attempts to elect a new leader in Oldham in Greater Manchester and Kirklees in West Yorkshire have failed.

In Oldham, Labor had been in power since 2011, but the May election made them the largest party on the council with 18 seats; this was well short of the 31 seats needed to form a majority.

Reform England’s rise in the polls saw it take second place in May, winning 16 seats, while a number of Independent groups gained a further 16 seats, while the Liberal Democrats won six seats and the Conservatives four.

So far, rival groups have failed to put forward a candidate who can garner the 31 votes needed to become leader.

Attempts to elect a leader failed on May 20, June 15, and finally July 1.

The election in Kirklees made Reform the largest party with 29 seats, leaving the Independents with 14, the Greens with 12, the Conservatives with nine and the Liberal Democrats with five.

No party has the 35 seats needed for a majority, and attempts to elect a leader on 20 and 28 May failed.

Both Oldham and Kirklees will meet again on July 15 for another vote.

While local conditions, described by some as “toxic” and “divisive”, may have played a part in Oldham’s predicament, the borough’s Liberal Democrat group leader Sam Al-Hamdani believes national hostility is also a factor.

He said: “Politics has become just this ‘yah-boo’ culture of ‘you don’t think the same as me, so you’re the enemy and you suck’.”

“This is a very difficult situation to have normal conversations and resolve something like this.”

While the day-to-day running of Oldham and Kirklees may be managed by council officers, their failure to elect a leader raises questions about whether they will be able to pass a budget for next year or draw up longer-term plans for their boroughs.

There is also the possibility of Whitehall intervening if councils’ lack of a leader prevents them from making important decisions.

A Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesman said: “It is the duty of councils to elect a leader and, legally, councils have a responsibility to ensure that the decision-making process continues effectively, even if a leader is not yet in office.

“The ministry will intervene when necessary to ensure that local governments are operating in accordance with the law.”

Oldham and Kirklees may be exceptions due to their lack of leaders, but the fragmentation of British politics and the rise of the Reformation and the Green Party have led some commentators to suggest that the future of British politics represents a “general lack of control”.

Jonathan Carr-West, of the Local Government Information Unit, said it was “normal” to have no overall control (NOC) in England, with seats more evenly split between a greater number of parties.

He highlighted Birmingham as a potential sign of things to come. In the May elections, which were previously led by Labour, Reform was the largest party with 23 seats, followed by the Greens with 19 seats, Labor with 17 seats, the Conservatives with 16 seats and the Liberal Democrats with 14 Independent seats.

The result was a Liberal Democrat-Green-Independent coalition running a minority administration with neither party willing to work with Reform.

He said: “I will see what happens in the next general elections.

“Should we look at something like Birmingham and think we need to prepare for that as a country?”

May elections left no party in control of all 64 councils, 30 of which were previously held by the majority party.

About 15 councils saw formal coalitions take over, but most of the 64 authorities are now run by minority administrations, often based on the largest party.

In some areas, parties have united to keep the largest group out of office.

In Redditch in Worcestershire, Labor came first with 13 seats but the council is now led by a coalition of Conservatives and Independents backed by Reform votes.

In the London borough of Southwark, Labor won 29 seats compared to 22 for the Greens and 12 for the Liberal Democrats, but the latter two parties merged to remove the old administration from power.

Elsewhere, Reform was the largest party after May but was left out of office in places such as Havant in Hampshire, where Labor, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens maintained their pre-election coalition.

Mr Carr-West said the rise of Reform and the Greens provided an added complication for councils, which did not have overall control because they did not operate in the same way as the old parties.

He said: “For example, the Greens do not whip, they do not have a single clear manifesto.

“The group leader’s ability to manage council members is not as strong as some traditional parties. This makes things difficult.”

Mr Carr-West added that the large number of new councilors meant many had limited history together or, in some cases, barely knew each other.

While he insisted this wasn’t necessarily a “bad thing”, he said it meant that “many of the tools civil servants previously used to drive the NOC, such as existing relationships, pre-engagement, manifesto knowledge and working through group leaders, are less useful than they used to be”.