LABOUR have seized control of Worcester City Council after securing the backing of Green Party councillors to form a new administration.
Coun Adrian Gregson will now become the new leader of the council after the Conservative group and former leader Coun Marc Bayliss were ousted by 18 votes to 17 following the city council’s annual meeting on Tuesday (May 17).
The move brought to an end 11 days of speculation following the city council elections on May 5 which saw the Tories lose overall control of the council.
The deal which handed control of the council to the Labour party was confirmed in a statement released by the Worcester Green Party during the meeting.
Coun Louis Stephen and Coun Neil Laurenson said they supported the change in leadership as ‘for this year there is more common ground with the new administration’.
However despite their support, the Greens confirmed they would not enter full coalition and would not take a seat in the newly-formed cabinet.
The statement added the party would vote on an ‘issue by issue basis’ and promised to review the agreement in 12 months time.
The party said efforts had been made to form a ‘rainbow coalition’ but said ‘tribal politics’ had blocked any hopes of all the parties working together.
“Worcester Green Party believes that people in Worcester would favour a more co-operative way of running the city council and it will continue to encourage the other political parties to work together in the cities interest,” the statement concluded.
The Green’s decision to back a change in leadership provoked an angry response from a number of Conservative councillors .
Outgoing leader Coun Bayliss slammed the agreement and said: “Far from being the tail that wags the Labour dog, the Greens will soon realise they aren’t even the flea on the Labour dog’s tail.”
Speaking after the meeting, Coun Gregson said he was ‘pleased and honoured’ to have been voted the new leader of the council.
“I think we did a really good job last time and we have a real opportunity now working with the Greens and other parties to do something exceptional for the city.
“We aren’t going to agree on everything, that’s the nature of politics, that’s why we have different political parties and why people vote in different ways.
“What we have to do now is try and find a way forward and implement policies to benefit all of the people in the city and I think we can do that,” he added.
Coun Gregson also refuted once again any claims of a deal between the parties before the election result was revealed.
“We’ve certainly worked very hard and discussed things in the last week since the election,” he said.
“This is something which has come at the last knockings. There is no secretive shady goings on this time,” he added.
